The Rooster
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Morning Papers - It's Origins
Rooster "Cock-a-Doodle-Do"
"Okeydoke"
History
One view from a desolate hillside
Leader
Friday December 23, 1988
The Guardian
Two days before Christmas, two tides flow strongly. One - the greater tide - is the tide of peace. More nagging, bloody conflicts have been settled in 1988 than in any year since the end of the Second World War. There are forces for good abroad in the world as seldom before. There is also a tide of evil, a force of destruction. By just one of those ironies which afflict the human condition, peace came to Namibia yesterday. Meanwhile, on a Scottish hillside, the body of the Swedish UN Commissioner for Namibia was one amongst hundreds strewn across square miles of debris: a victim - supposition, but strongly based - of a random terrorist bomb which blown a 747 to bits at 31,000 feet. No-one could quite tell who was responsible. In a sick world, sick, anonymous voices called newspapers to claim conflicting responsibility. I am the Devil .. No, I am the Devil. There are two responses to that second, malevolent tide. One (valid, necessary) is to go about business as normal. To search the houses of Sherwood Crescent, Lockerbie , for the unknown corpses. To make statements of horror and compassion. To sift the hills for clues. To praise the efficiency of those who rushed to the rescue. And, of course, to ask questions. Was it structural failure in an elderly Jumbo? Or was the US Moscow embassy's relaxed alert, warning of a December bomb attack on a Pan Am flight from Frankfurt, more than coincidence? If so, why did routine security allow a bomb aboard? But if so, why was there a warning at all? What did it gain?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,12269,1378098,00.html
History
Today is Wednesday, Dec. 21, the 355th day of 2005. There are 10 days left in the year. Winter arrives at 1:35 p.m. Eastern time.
1620, Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower went ashore for the first time at present-day Plymouth, Mass.
On this date:
1767 Poet Phillis Wheatley's first poem appears in Newport Mercury Newspaper.
1804, British statesman Benjamin Disraeli was born in London.
1872 Robert S. Duncanson, a landscape artist, dies in Detroit, MI.
1898, scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered the radioactive element radium.
1911 Baseball legend Josh Gibson, who will be inducted into the 1972 Baseball Hall of Fame, is born in Buena Visto, GA.
1914, the first feature-length silent film comedy, "Tillie's Punctured Romance," was released.
1921 Acting Governor P.B.S. Pinchback of Louisiana dies in Washington, DC.
1942, the Supreme Court ruled all states had to recognize divorces granted in Nevada.
1945, Gen. George S. Patton died in Heidelberg, Germany, of injuries from a car accident.
1948 Actor Samuel Leroy Jackson who will be noted for his film roles in Jungle Fever, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, and The Negotiator, is born in Washington, DC.
1948, the state of Eire (formerly the Irish Free State) declared its independence.
1959 Olympic track star sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner, who will win a gold medal for the 100 and 200 meter dashes at the Summer Olympics, is born in Los Angeles, CA
1968, Apollo 8 was launched on a mission to orbit the moon.
1971, the U.N. Security Council chose Kurt Waldheim to succeed U Thant as Secretary-General.
1978, police in Des Plaines, Ill., arrested John W. Gacy Jr. and began unearthing the remains of 33 men and boys that Gacy was later convicted of murdering.
1988, 270 people were killed when a terrorist bomb exploded aboard a Pam Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, sending wreckage crashing to the ground.
Ten years ago: The House approved sweeping welfare reform that President Clinton said he would veto. (He later signed a revamped version.)
The city of Bethlehem passed from Israeli to Palestinian control.
Five years ago: President-elect Bush resigned as governor of Texas; Lt. Gov. Rick Perry was sworn in to replace him.
One year ago: A suicide bombing at a mess hall tent near Mosul, Iraq, killed 22 people, including 14 U.S. service members and three American contractors. Two French reporters held hostage for four months in Iraq were released.
Missing in Action
1966 GLENN DANNY ELLOY MUSKOGEE OK 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 SCURLOCK LEE D. RESTFUL LAKE OH
1968 ALLEE RICHARD K. PORT JERVIS NY REMAINS RETURNED 1996 REMAINS IDENTIFIED 04/30/98
1972 BEBUS CHARLES J. MINNEAPOLIS MN REMAINS RETURNED 11/88
1972 BEENS LYNN R. SALT LAKE CITY UT 03/27/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1972 BIRCH JOEL RAY PHOENIZ AZ NOT ON OFFICIAL DIA LIST. PARTIAL REMS RECOVERED 1972
1972 CRADDOCK RANDALL J. NORMAN OK REMAINS RETURNED 05/89
1972 CAFFARELLI CHARLES J. TYRONE PA
1972 DARR CHARLES E. LITTLE ROCK AR CREW MEMBERS BODY RETURNED REMAINS RETURNED 1988
1972 DICKENS DELMA E. OMEGA GA DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 02/21/85
1972 ELLIOTT ROBERT T. EL DORADO AR DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 02/21/85
1972 FENTER CHARLES F. TUCSON AZ DEAD -REMAINS RETURNED 02/21/85 FAMILY NOT ACCEPT
1972 FULLER JAMES R. CIBOLO TX DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 02/21/85 ID RECINDED
1972 GOULD FRANK A. NEW YORK NY
1972 GRAUSTEIN ROBERT STEWART FRYEBURG ME REMAINS RETURNED 12/04/85
1972 HART THOMAS T. III ORLANDO FL DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 02/21/85 ID RECINDED
1972 HEGGEN KEITH R. RENWICK IA 03/13/74 REMAINS RETURNED
1972 HIGDON KENNETH H. SAN FRANCISCO CA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED ALIVE IN 99
1972 JOHNSON EDWARD H. NEWBURG OR NO SUBSQUENT INTEL INFO REMAINS RETURNED 05/89
1972 KIRBY BOBBY A. ALTANTA GA REMAINS RETURNED 07/25/89
1972 KROBOTH STANLEY N. SAVANNAH GA DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 02/21/85
1972 LAGERWALL HARRY R. CARMEL NY DEAD REMAINS RECOVERED 02/21/85
1972 LILES ROBERT L. JR. SHREVEPORT LA DEAD REMAINS RECOVERED 02/21/85
1972 LOCKHART GEORGE B. SULPHUR SPRINGS TX REMAINS RETURNED 04/89
1972 LOLLAR JAMES L. KILMICHAEL MS 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV
1972 LYNN ROBERT R. JACKSONVILLE IL REMAINS RETURNED 06/89
1972 MAC DONALD GEORGE D. EVANSTON IL DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 02/21/85 ID RECINDED
1972 MEDER PAUL O. JAMICA NY REMAINS RETURNED 02/21/85
1972 NAGAHIRO JAMES Y. HONOLULU HI 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1972 NAKAGAWA GORDON R. NEW CASTLE CA 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 PERRY RONALD D. GALLATIN TN 12/21/75 SRV RETURNED REMAINS
1972 REAID ROLLIE K. DORA AL DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 02/01/85
1972 WADE BARTON S. JASPER IN REMAINS RETURNED 12/04/85
1972 WALSH FRANCIS A. WESTPORT CT DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 02/21/85
1972 WALTERS DONOVAN K. LEBANON NE REMAINS RETURNED 12/15/88
1972 WINNINGHAM JOHN Q. GROVER CITY CA DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 02/21/85
December 20
1965 JONES EDWIN D. RESCUED REFNO 0214
1965 HUDSON HENRY M. RESCUED
1965 JOHNSON GUY D. SEATTLE WA REMAINS RETURNED 03/18/77
1965 JEFFREY ROBERT D. LOS ANGELES CA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL IN 98
1965 MIMS GEORGE I. JR. MANNING SC
1965 NORDAHL LEE E. CHOTEAU MT PROB DEAD
1965 PITCHFORD JOHN J. NATCHEZ MS 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED ALIVE IN 98
1965 TRIER ROBERT DOUGLAS MEMPHIS TN POSS KIA RESISTING CAPTURE REM RET 10/14/82
1965 WAX DAVID J. BROOKLINE MA REMAINS IDENTIFIED 02 AUG 93
1966 LUCAS LARRY F. MARMET WV
1966 LUM DAVID ANTHONY HONOLULU HI
1967 CRANER ROBERT R. COHOES NY RETURNED 3/14/73 NOT ON ORIG DIA LIST DECEASED 10/03/80
1967 GRUTERS GUY D. SARASOTA FL 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1968 BOUCHARD MICHAEL L. MISSOULA MT
1968 KENT ROBERT DUANE DALLAS TX
1968 MORIN RICHARD GIRARD TWEKSBURY MA
1969 LONG CARL EDWIN COLLEGE STATION TX
1972 ARCURI WILLIAM Y. SATELLITE BEACH FL 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 GELONECK TERRY M. DECATUR AL 02/19/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1972 GRANGER PAUL L. SAN FRANCISCO CA 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1972 KLOMANN THOMAS J. OAK FOREST IL 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 LERNER IRWIN S. STRATFORD CT POSS KIA
1972 MADDEN ROY JR. HAYWARD CA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED DECEASED 1997
1972 MARTINI MICHAEL R. LOS ANGELES CA 02/19/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 96
1972 MC LAUGHLIN ARTHUR V. JR. ROXBURY MA POSS KIA
1972 PAUL CRAIG A. COLUMBUS OH 09/30/77 REMAINS RETURNED BY SRV
1972 PERRY RANDOLPH A. JR. TROY MT POSS KIA
1972 SPENCER WARREN R. LA CRESCENTA CA 09/30/77 REMAINS RETURNED BY SRV
1972 STUART JOHN F. INDIANAPOLIS IN
1972 WIELAND CARL T. ORLAND FL RELEASED 03/29/73 DECEASED
December 19
1968 PAYNE NORMAN CLEVELAND OH
1971 FORAME PETER C. MC LEAN VA
1971 JOHNSON KENNETH R. MINNEAPOLIS MN 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1971 POYNOR DANIEL R. ENID OK REMAINS IDENTIFIED 06/27/95
1971 SKILES THOMAS W. BUFFALO WY
1971 THOMAS LEO T. JR. GEORGETOWN KY REMAINS IDENTIFIED 06/27/95
1971 VAUGHAN SAMUEL R. ST. GEORGE SC 03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV " ""DICK"" ALIVE AND WELL 98"
1972 ALEXANDER FERNANDO DALLAS TX 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 BARROWS HENRY C. WESTFIELD NJ 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 BROWN CHARLES A. JR. BOSTON MA 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 1998
1972 COOPER RICHARD W. JR. SALISBURY MD
1972 POOLE CHARLIE S. GIBSLAND LA PROB DEAD / LAO DONG 6 CHILDREN/WIFE DIED 1996
1972 WILSON HAL K. HAMBURG NY 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV " ""RED"" ALIVE AND WELL
December 18
1968 BARRAS GREGORY I JACKSON MS "REMAINS RETURNED, IDENTIFIED 12/03/98"
1971 HILDEBRAND LELAND L. FIFIELD WI 03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 1998
1971 WELLS KENNETH VANCOUVER WA 03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 CERTAIN ROBERT G. SILVER SPRINGS MD 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 FERGUSON WALTER L. DETROIT MI 08/23/78 REMAINS RETURNED MONTGOM HANOI
1972 JOHNSON RICHARD E. OCEANSIDE CA 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1972 MC ELVAIN JAMES R. LA VERNE CA
1972 RISSI DONALD L. COLLINSVILLE IL 08/23/78 REMAINS RETURNED MONTGON HANOI
1972 SIMPSON RICHARD T. ANDERSON SC 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 THOMAS ROBERT J. MIAMI FL 08/23/78 REMAINS RETURNED MONTGOM HANOI
1972 WARD RONALD J. ANADARKO OK
December 17
1967 BOYER TERRY L. VISALIA CA 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1967 ELLIS JEFFREY T. CALDWELL NJ 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 FLEENOR KENNETH R. BOWLING GREEN KY 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
The New York Times
Gas Emissions Reached High in U.S. in '04
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: December 21, 2005
American emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global warming reached an all-time high in 2004, rising 2 percent from the year before, the Energy Department said, nearly double the average annual rate measured since 1990.
The department's Energy Information Administration, in a report issued Monday, also raised earlier government estimates of emissions for 2003, pushing that year past 2000 into second place.
No estimates were available for United States emissions in 2005, although energy experts say increased economic growth this year is likely to make it another record-setter.
The increases in 2003 and 2004 followed a brief dip in emissions in 2001 and 2002. Government officials said that decline reflected a slowdown in the economy, the departure of some manufacturing industries overseas, and emissions cuts in other industries.
Less than two weeks ago, Bush administration officials at climate-treaty talks in Montreal repeatedly cited the short-lived drop in emissions after 2000 as evidence that President Bush's climate policy, using voluntary measures to slow growth in the gas releases, was working.
In its report, the energy agency said that while overall emissions were growing, the rate of growth continued to slow relative to economic growth, and so remained on the track set by Mr. Bush.
Yesterday, Lord Rees, the president of the Royal Society, an independent British scientific academy similar to the National Academies in the United States, said the new American data showed that all industrialized countries needed to intensify efforts to cut emissions. He noted that Britain's emissions had also risen in the last two years.
Lord Rees said that the two countries and the other members of the Group of 8 biggest industrialized nations clearly had to do more to live up to a statement they issued at a summit meeting in Scotland in July, in which they resolved to act with "urgency" to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"We should not underestimate the challenge of achieving economic growth whilst reducing emissions, and the United States is not the only country that is struggling to do this," Lord Rees said in a statement. "But it seems unlikely that the present U.S. strategy of only setting emissions targets relative to economic growth, reducing so-called greenhouse gas intensity, will be enough."
Carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas generated by humans, remains an unavoidable byproduct of burning the fossil fuels that underpin modern life. Other powerful greenhouse gases include methane, which leaks from landfills and gas pipelines, and nitrous oxide, released mainly from fertilizer use in large-scale farms.
The gases are measured collectively in tons of carbon dioxide by converting the heat-trapping capacity of each gas into the amount of carbon dioxide that would have the same warming effect.
By this measure, total American emissions of the six major greenhouse gases in 2004 added up to the equivalent of 7.1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, up 2 percent from 6.98 billion metric tons in 2003. Emissions in 2000 were 6.97 billion tons, the agency said.
The energy agency's greenhouse gas report is online at eia.doe.gov/environment.html.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/national/21pollute.html
Spying Program Snared U.S. Calls
By JAMES RISEN and ERIC LICHTBLAU
Published: December 21, 2005
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 - A surveillance program approved by President Bush to conduct eavesdropping without warrants has captured what are purely domestic communications in some cases, despite a requirement by the White House that one end of the intercepted conversations take place on foreign soil, officials say.
The officials say the National Security Agency's interception of a small number of communications between people within the United States was apparently accidental, and was caused by technical glitches at the National Security Agency in determining whether a communication was in fact "international."
Telecommunications experts say the issue points up troubling logistical questions about the program. At a time when communications networks are increasingly globalized, it is sometimes difficult even for the N.S.A. to determine whether someone is inside or outside the United States when making a cellphone call or sending an e-mail message. As a result, people that the security agency may think are outside the United States are actually on American soil.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/politics/21nsa.html
In Final Hours, M.T.A. Took a Big Risk on Pensions
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: December 21, 2005
On the final day of intense negotiations, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, it turns out, greatly altered what it had called its final offer, to address many of the objections of the transit workers' union. The authority improved its earlier wage proposals, dropped its demand for concessions on health benefits and stopped calling for an increase in the retirement age, to 62 from 55.
Cars waited in traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge during the Tuesday evening commute. More Photos >
But then, just hours before the strike deadline, the authority's chairman, Peter S. Kalikow, put forward a surprise demand that stunned the union. Seeking to rein in the authority's soaring pension costs, he asked that all new transit workers contribute 6 percent of their wages toward their pensions, up from the 2 percent that current workers pay. The union balked, and then shut down the nation's largest transit system for the first time in a quarter-century.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/nyregion/nyregionspecial3/21collapse.html?hp&ex=1135227600&en=aebb5027b30744cc&ei=5094&partner=homepage
That Blur? It's China, Moving Up in the Pack
By DAVID BARBOZA and DANIEL ALTMAN
Published: December 21, 2005
SHANGHAI, Dec. 20 - Many economists have long suspected that official government statistics here provided only a shadow of reality.
With China's announcement on Tuesday that its economy was considerably bigger than previously estimated, economists and financial prognosticators are scrambling to rethink their assessment of China's rise and its role on the world stage. China's new figures suggest that it probably has passed France, Italy and Britain to become the world's fourth-largest economy.
Some economists are even accelerating their timetables for when China may eclipse the United States as the world's biggest economy. With the new figures offering a more expansive view of economic activity, some said China could overtake the United States as early as 2035, at least five years earlier than previous projections.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/business/worldbusiness/21yuan.html
Hussein Returns to Court for Resumption of Trial
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 21, 2005
Filed at 7:22 a.m. ET
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A noticeably calmer Saddam Hussein sat quietly in his defendant's chair at the resumption of his trial Wednesday, two weeks after he called the court ''unjust'' and boycotted a session. When the judge refused to let him take a break to pray, the former leader closed his eyes and appeared to pray from his seat.
Saddam and seven co-defendants are on trial in the deaths of more than 140 Shiite Muslims following a 1982 assassination attempt against him in the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad.
During previous sessions, Saddam has been defiant and combative at times, often trying to dominate the courtroom. He and his half brother-- Barazan Ibrahim, who was head of the Iraqi intelligence during the Dujail incident-- have used the procedures to protest their own conditions in detention.
The deposed president had refused to attend the previous session on Dec. 7. ''I will not come to an unjust court! Go to hell!'' he said in an outburst in court the day before.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Saddam-Trial.html
Afghan Parliament Opens, and Finds Democracy Is a Bit Untidy
By CARLOTTA GALL
Published: December 21, 2005
KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 20 - The two houses of Parliament began their first sessions on Tuesday, and in just a few hours provided a glimpse of democracy Afghan style, with the upper house ignoring the rules of procedure and the lower house getting bogged down in debate.
A presidential appointee and close ally of President Hamid Karzai, Sebaghatullah Mojadeddi, was elected chairman of the upper chamber, the House of Elders, although he won only after shaming his main opponent into stepping down out of respect for his age and reputation.
The lower chamber, the House of the People, which approves the cabinet and senior appointments, spent the morning debating whether to agree on rules of procedure first, or to elect a chairman and deputies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/international/asia/21afghan.html
New Drug Points Up Problems in Developing Cancer Cures
By GARDINER HARRIS
Published: December 21, 2005
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 - Despite promising discoveries and multibillion-dollar investments, cancer research is quietly undergoing a crisis. Federal drug regulators will soon announce several initiatives that they hope will help salvage the field.
Few drugs are being marketed, and most of those that have been introduced are enormously expensive and provide few of the benefits that patients expect. Officials of the Food and Drug Administration suggest that the failures may result from an obsolete testing system.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/health/21cancer.html
New Yorkers Contend With 2nd Day of Transit Strike
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
Published: December 21, 2005
New Yorkers headed to work on the second day of the transit strike this morning without subways or buses, as negotiations between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the transit union remained at an impasse.
Roger Toussaint, president of Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, announced the strike at union headquarters around 3 a.m. More Photos
Traffic was snarled this morning along many of the city's major roadways, including the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, as many commuters tried to get to get into Manhattan before a 5 a.m. ban on cars with fewer than four people took effect.
"It's really a hardship," said Bonnie Bromell, 50, who got up at 3 a.m. to drive in from Hastings, in Westchester County. "It's encroaching on the Christmas season. There are other things we could be doing, but we're not."
Pasted from <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/nyregion/nyregionspecial3/21cnd-strike.html?hp&ex=1135227600&en=6ea13bcca6d0ebc3&ei=5094&partner=homepage>
A Transit Local Lacking the Support of Its Parent Union
By SEWELL CHAN
Published: December 21, 2005
The transit workers' union, despite taking the extraordinary step of calling its first strike in 25 years, has revealed itself over the last 48 hours to be an organization wrestling with considerable discord - a local union, in fact, that is at complete odds with its larger parent organization.
The union's vote to strike, made at 1:15 a.m. yesterday in a closed-door session of the executive board, was opposed by three of seven vice presidents of the union, Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union. A fourth abstained.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/nyregion/nyregionspecial3/21negotiation.html?hp&ex=1135227600&en=d265d9810e072af3&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Thrown Together in a Crisis, Strangers Share Cars and Life Stories
By ALAN FEUER
Published: December 21, 2005
The BMW in Brooklyn held an office temp, a lawyer and a technology worker. The courier's van in Queens was crowded with the driver and his buddies and a man who had flagged them down.
Then there was the minivan, down from the Bronx, in northern Manhattan. In it were a doorman, a dental office worker and a man with his son.
Yesterday was a day many New Yorkers will long recall, a day when many put aside their fear and loathing of the stranger, a day when doctors, dancers and designers traded in the normal anonymity of subway trains for the intimacy of an unfamiliar car.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/nyregion/nyregionspecial3/21coping.html?hp&ex=1135227600&en=61a1f98c923d6e00&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Strike Inflicts Broad Economic Pain
By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
Published: December 21, 2005
At Century 21, the discount department store near Wall Street where shopping is usually a contact sport, a smattering of customers yesterday found the retail version of a Christmas miracle: entire aisles to themselves and no lines at the registers.
At F. illi Ponte, a venerable TriBeCa restaurant that gave its employees cab fare on Monday to make sure they would show up to work yesterday, half the day's reservations were canceled.
And at a Midtown spot near Bryant Park where a 52-story office tower is being built, barely half the construction workers made it to the job, and those who did were slowed by delays in getting building materials delivered.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/nyregion/nyregionspecial3/21business.html?hp&ex=1135227600&en=fa58925676d2f99b&ei=5094&partner=homepage
New Jersey Plans Broad Steroid Testing for School Sports
By RICHARD LEZIN JONES
Published: December 21, 2005
WEST ORANGE, N.J., Dec. 20 - New Jersey's acting governor signed an executive order Tuesday that requires random steroid testing for athletes on high school teams that qualify for postseason play. The order makes the state the first to test high school students in all sports for performance-enhancing drugs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/sports/othersports/21steroids.html
Old Curative Gets New Life at Tiny Scale
By BARNABY J. FEDER
Published: December 20, 2005
Silver, one of humankind's first weapons against bacteria, is receiving new respect for its antiseptic powers, thanks to the growing ability of researchers to tinker with its molecular structure.
Doctors prescribed silver to fight infections at least as far back as the days of ancient Greece and Egypt. Their knowledge was absorbed by Rome, where historians like Pliny the Elder reported that silver plasters caused wounds to close rapidly. More recently, in 1884, a German doctor named C. S. F. Crede demonstrated that a putting a few drops of silver nitrate into the eyes of babies born to women with venereal disease virtually eliminated the high rates of blindness among such infants.
But silver's time-tested - if poorly understood - versatility as a disinfectant was overshadowed in the latter half of the 20th century by the rise of antibiotics.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/20/health/20nano.html
RIA Novosti
United States has problems with democracy
19:46
16/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW. (Gennady Yevstafyev for RIA Novosti.) A chain of scandalous revelations about Washington's human rights violations both in the U.S. and abroad is increasingly worrying even those who look with patience at the conduct of the current U.S. Administration.
These condescending people believed that the painful lessons learned in Iraq and other places would sober up the men in Washington, but this hasn't happened.
The recent arguments about secret U.S. jails in third countries, and "flying prisons" prove that Washington has not learned any lessons from previous scandals involving an illegal concentration camp for Afghans located at the Guantanamo naval base in Cuba, not to mention the crimes committed by U.S. officials in the secret Iraqi prison of Abu Grabe.
Let's examine the case of Khaled El-Masri, whom the American Civil Liberties Union helped take the CIA to court for creating a chain of secret prisons and torturing prisoners. Even though he is a German citizen, he was illegally abducted in Macedonia and subjected to illegal and prohibited methods of investigation: torture, regular beatings, and the use of drugs. It appeared that he was completely innocent, and was merely mistaken for someone else. This is not the only case.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20051216/42528298.html
Russia to take Syria's side if conflict with U.S. arises - Russian MPs
20:41
20/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will take Syria's side if charges against Syrian officials with involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri cause a conflict between the United States and Syria, two Russian parliamentary members said Tuesday.
"If Russia is to choose between its two strategic allies, it will undoubtedly take Syria's side," said Shamil Sultanov, a coordinator of an inter-faction association, Russia and the Islamic World: A Strategic Dialogue.
Nikolai Leonov, a member of parliament's security committee, who had recently visited Syria along with Sultanov and other MPs, said it was primarily beneficial for the U.S. to accuse Syria of murdering Hariri. "Indeed, Syria is an excellent oil corridor with access to deep-water Mediterranean ports. Besides, this is a good pretext to distract the world community's attention from the events in Iraq," the MP said.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051220/42587105.html
Russian plan may boost talks on Iran's nuclear program - viewpoint
15:42
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's initiative on uranium enrichment on its territory may help break the deadlock in the talks on Iran's nuclear program, the head of the Russian Political Studies Center said Wednesday.
Vladimir Orlov said he did not expect any significant results from Iran's talks with the EU troika (Britain, France and Germany) opening in Vienna Wednesday.
He said the meeting itself was important given the current cooling of Iran's relations with the world community.
He also said Iran's position on Russia's proposal to create a bilateral joint venture to enrich uranium in Russia was critical and that the initiative was backed by the United States, the EU troika, the IAEA and other countries.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051221/42605091.html
Budget revenue from subsoil auctions to hit $1.2 bln in 2005
13:21
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - Budget revenues from mineral deposit auctions in 2005 will total more than 35 billion rubles ($1.2 billion), a 38-fold increase against last year's figure, the Russian natural resources minister said Wednesday.
Yury Trutnev said last year's revenues from mineral deposit auctions amounted to 919 million rubles ($32.1 million).
He added that payments for the use of forests would add $118.6 million ($108.2 million in 2004) to the budget and tariffs on water would contribute $373.2 million ($334.9 million in 2004).
http://en.rian.ru/business/20051221/42598405.html
Russia to auction off 800 hydrocarbon deposits in 2006
13:00
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Federal Agency for Subsoil Use intends to hold 1,000 auctions next year, including 800 hydrocarbon and 200 solid mineral deposit tenders, the natural resources minister said Wednesday.
Yury Trutnev said the 2006 budget plan for one-time payments would be 20 billion rubles (about $699 million) and that the ministry would spend 4.6 billion (about $160 million) rubles in 2006 on the construction of water facilities.
http://en.rian.ru/business/20051221/42597535.html
Subsoil law to be adopted early next year
14:40
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - The delay in the approval of the new version of the subsoil law could be one to two months, the natural resources minister said Wednesday. Yury Trutnev said the delay was not decisive for Russia as a whole and expressed the hope that the law would be adopted in the first half of 2006.
According to Trutnev, his ministry would finalize the law and send it to the regions for repeat discussion.
Trutnev said the current amendments did not change the structure of the law.
"They deal with the admission of foreign companies to deposits, the procedure of getting the right of subsoil use under the licenses issued before the adoption of the new law and the possibility for the state to terminate such contracts out of court," he said.
Trutnev said it was necessary to determine subsoils where preferences for domestic companies should be made.
The minister said the criteria of more than 1 trillion cu m of gas and 150 million metric tons of oil for deposits to be called strategic were necessary in the new law.
"Otherwise, we would simply deceive our foreign partners," he said.
http://en.rian.ru/business/20051221/42602617.html
URGENT: Sibneft buys 75% stake in company licensed to survey Sakhalin shelf
14:28
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russian oil major Sibneft has purchased from the Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP a 75% stake in a company licensed to survey the Lopukhovsky section of the Sakhalin shelf in the Far East, Sibneft said Wednesday.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051221/42601789.html
URGENT: Court upholds bank syndicate's $482mln tax claim against Yukos
15:00
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow's arbitration court upheld a $482 million tax claim against the embattled oil major Yukos filed by a syndicate of foreign banks.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051221/42603961.html
Lawyers appeal 14-yr sentence for Yukos official
12:38
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - Lawyers for a former manager of embattled oil giant Yukos sentenced to 14 years in prison for money laundering filed an appeal with the Moscow City Court Wednesday.
"We consider the verdict illegal and ungrounded," Yury Larin, attorney for former Yukos-Moskva deputy manager Alexei Kurtsin, said.
On December 1, Moscow's Lefortovo court handed down a guilty verdict for all those involved in the Yukos-Moskva case, sentencing eight former managers to up to 13 years in prison. An investigation showed that Kurtsin and Yukos-Moskva Senior Vice President Mikhail Trushin, who is still at large, laundered 342 million rubles ($11.9 million) through fictitious charities registered in several large Russian cities. Investigators claim the bulk of laundered funds went directly to Trushin and Kurtsin.
Yuganskneftegaz, the main production subsidiary of state-owned oil company Rosneft, has been declared an injured party though it did not file suit during the trials.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051221/42596757.html
Number of poisoned people in Chechnya increases
15:36
21/ 12/ 2005
GROZNY, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - The number of Chechen residents poisoned by an unidentified substance has reached 63 people, many of whom are children, a local healthcare official said Wednesday.
"Fifty-five people with symptoms of severe poisoning have been hospitalized," Umar Akhyadov said, adding that 45 of them were children.
The victims are residents of four settlements in the Shelkovsky district of Chechnya.
Medical personnel are still attempting to establish the cause of poisoning, the official said.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051221/42605068.html
Russian Regional Jet enters the world market
15:09
20/ 12/ 2005
Moscow. (RIA Novosti political commentator Andrey Kislyakov) The Russian Regional Jet (RRJ) is the most ambitious and dynamic national aviation industry program.
The first RRJ prototype is scheduled to make its maiden flight next year.
Being a new next generation airliner, the RRJ family is highly advanced, economical, has excellent flying characteristics, equipped with the latest in avionics and has a modern customer support infrastructure.
Russia is definitely going to enter the regional aircraft world market. In late November 2005, Sukhoi Civil Aviation (SCA) Concern and Concord Aviation, a leasing company from Dubai, signed a contract for the delivery of 40 95-seat RRJ-95s.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20051220/42580439.html
Global development program awards Armenia $237-mln grant
13:53
21/ 12/ 2005
YEREVAN, December 21 (RIA Novosti, Gamlet Matevosyan) - The board of the U.S. Millennium Challenge Account Corporation has approved a $236.65-million grant for Armenia, a spokesman for the Armenian National Committee of America said Wednesday.
"The grant is designed to reduce poverty in Armenia by improving the efficiency of the country's agriculture," the Armenian representative said. The two-part program will rebuild the country's rural roads and develop its irrigation system, with allocations of $67 million and $146 million, respectively. About $22 million has been designated to manage and monitor the program. The Millennium Challenge Account will monitor Armenian policies throughout the five-year term of the grant, maintaining the right to halt or cancel the program if Armenia fails to honor its commitments.
The program is expected to cover 75% of the rural sector in the hope that the annual revenue of Armenia's rural population will reach $36 million by 2010 and $113 million by 2015.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20051221/42599906.html
Court upholds constitutionality of new gubernatorial election procedures
13:16
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Constitutional Court confirmed Wednesday that the president-proposed new gubernatorial election procedures were lawful.
The court said the new procedures accounted for regional interests since they stipulated that the president's gubernatorial candidates must be approved by local legislatures. The court ruled that the procedures were not a violation of "the principle of the division of powers and federalism."
The court was considering a complaint filed by Vladimir Grishkevich, a resident of Tyumen (Urals) who tried to challenge the local legislature's approval of Sergei Sobyanin's candidacy for Tyumen governor February 17. A regional court declined to review the case, so Grishkevich then appealed to the Constitutional Court.
"Sergei Sobyanin being appointed governor with a five-year term by the local legislature, rather than being elected to the post through general elections, violates my constitutional right to participate in elections at all levels," Grishkevich said.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051221/42598207.html
Constitutional Court hesitant about moving to St. Petersburg
13:25
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - The chairman of the Constitutional Court expressed hope Wednesday that the court would not move from Moscow to St. Petersburg anytime soon.
"I cannot comment on it [the move], because we still do not have an official legislative document," Valery Zorkin said. "But I hope that the country will make a correct decision, and the move will not happen anytime soon, and we will stay here [in Moscow] for a while."
Speaker of the lower house of parliament Boris Gryzlov said Tuesday that the State Duma was planning to submit the bill on the move to the government as early as this week.
Zorkin said he could not comment on the political implications of the move, but the issue "should be considered thoroughly."
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051221/42598583.html
Putin wishes Georgian counterpart happy birthday
12:28
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - Vladimir Putin sent a presidential birthday greeting to Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili Wednesday, the Russian presidential press service said.
"I'm sure the constructive dialogue on all the spheres of Russian-Georgian cooperation will improve bilateral relations, meet the interests of the two countries' peoples and consolidate peace and stability in the Caucasus," the Russian president said.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051221/42596429.html
President Putin: no branches of foreign banks in Russia
17:05
16/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti economic commentator Nina Kulikova.) Russian President Vladimir Putin supported the banking community's desire to restrict the activities of foreign bank branches in the country at a meeting with Russian bankers in Novosibirsk yesterday.
"I want to confirm that the Russian government agrees with our banking community that activities of foreign bank branches in Russia should today be restricted or, in fact, prohibited," Putin said. Thus, he publicly endorsed the stance adopted by many bankers and experts who had repeatedly spoken against admitting them into the country.
The problem of admitting foreigners to Russian financial markets appeared as the country began integrating in the global economy. It remains one of the main obstacles in Russia's WTO accession talks. Foreign partners demand that Russia allow branches to work in the country, but the position of Russian negotiators is firm. The country cannot afford it, because such changes may cause severe problems for its underdeveloped banking system.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20051216/42524682.html
Foreign currency exchange rates as fixed by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation for December 22
12:55
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - The following rates of exchange of foreign currencies to the ruble of the Russian Federation have been fixed for the purposes of accounting and customs duty payments from December 22, 2005:
1 Australian dollar - 21.1810 rubles
1 British pound sterling - 50.5537 rubles
1,000 Belarusian rubles - 13.3664 rubles
10 Danish krones - 45.8154 rubles
1 US dollar - 28.7629 rubles
1 euro - 34.1962 rubles
100 Icelandic krones - 45.2531 rubles
100 Kazakh tenges - 21.5396 rubles
1 Canadian dollar - 24.5459 rubles
1 new Turkish lira - 21.2665 rubles
10 Norwegian krones - 42.4188 rubles
1 unit of conditional drawing rights - 41.4471 rubles
1 Singapore dollar - 17.2491 rubles
10 Ukrainian hryvnias - 56.6400 rubles
10 Swedish kronas - 36.2130 rubles
1 Swiss franc - 22.0051 rubles
100 Japanese yen - 24.5774 rubles
The foreign currency exchange rates to the ruble of the Russian Federation entail no obligation on the part of the Bank of Russia to buy or sell the currencies according to the above rates.
http://en.rian.ru/business/20051221/42597362.html
The Washington Post
Spy Court Judge Quits In Protest
Jurist Concerned Bush Order Tainted Work of Secret Panel
By Carol D. Leonnig and Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, December 21, 2005; Page A01
A federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of President Bush's secret authorization of a domestic spying program, according to two sources.
U.S. District Judge James Robertson, one of 11 members of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, sent a letter to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. late Monday notifying him of his resignation without providing an explanation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122000685.html
Defending Science by Defining It
By David Brown and Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, December 21, 2005; Page A20
The opinion written by Judge John E. Jones III in the Dover evolution trial is a two-in-one document that offers both philosophical and practical arguments against "intelligent design" likely to be useful to far more than a school board in a small Pennsylvania town.
Jones gives a clear definition of science, and recounts how this vaunted mode of inquiry has evolved over the centuries. He describes how scientists go about the task of supporting or challenging ideas about the world of the senses -- all that can be observed and measured. And he reaches the unwavering conclusion that intelligent design is a religious idea, not a scientific one.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122001715.html
Transit Strike Throws Off the Meter of N.Y. With Cabs a Last Resort, City Uses a Zone Defense
By David Segal
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 21, 2005; Page C01
NEW YORK, Dec. 20 -- The fate of New York City fell on the hunched shoulders of Sotirios Gavritsas on Tuesday. And frankly, it sort of bummed him out.
"I'm depressed, you know what I mean?" he said, taking a right turn onto Lexington Avenue at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. "I don't like it one bit. I find it very depressing."
Forget those rates: Cabbies were forced to use zoned fares on the first day of the strike. (By Chris Hondros -- Getty Images)
Who's Blogging?
Read what bloggers are saying about this article.
You'd think that Gavritsas would be having the time of his life. He's part of the legion of New York taxi drivers, which for now makes him the best hope for the teeming masses trying to cover Manhattan ground. Transit workers walked off their jobs early Tuesday morning, after leaders of their union rejected a final offer from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the organization that oversees the largest subway and bus system in the country.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122001762.html
The Christmas He Dreamed for All of Us
By Harold Meyerson
Wednesday, December 21, 2005; Page A31
The white Christmases that Irving Berlin dreamed of weren't the earliest ones he used to know. He spent his first five Christmases in czarist Russia, and his only recollection of that time, at least the only one he'd acknowledge as an adult, was that of watching his neighbors burn his family's house to the ground in a good old-fashioned, Jew-hating pogrom.
So it's no surprise that when Berlin got around to writing his great Christmas song in 1941, nearly half a century after his family had fled the shtetl of Mohilev for New York's Lower East Side, it was flatly devoid of Christian imagery. It is, for all that, a religious song. It's just that Berlin's religion was America.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122001011.html
4 GOP Senators Hold Firm Against Patriot Act Renewal
More Safeguards Needed, They Say
By Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 21, 2005; Page A04
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) could barely conceal his anger.
"The Patriot Act expires on December 31, but the terrorist threat does not," he told reporters at the Capitol yesterday. "Those on the Senate floor who are filibustering the Patriot Act are killing the Patriot Act."
GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, with staff on the Hill, said, "I think the responsible thing to do at this point is to move forward with a three-month extension." (By Melina Mara -- The Washington Post)
Patriot Act Primer
The USA PATRIOT Act, approved overwhelmingly by Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, greatly expanded the government's power to monitor, search, detain or deport suspects in terrorism-related investigations.
Politics Trivia
Former Sen. William Proxmire died on Dec. 15 at age 90. Which record does he hold in the Senate?
Longest filibuster in Senate history.
Most consecutive roll call votes cast by a senator.
Sat in the same seat for the duration of his Senate tenure.
Missed the greatest percentage of votes during his Senate tenure.
There was just one problem. Well, four problems, actually. Four of the 46 senators using the delaying tactic to thwart the USA Patriot Act renewal are members of Frist's party. It is a pesky, irritating fact for Republicans who are eager to portray the impasse as Democratic obstructionism, and a ready-made rejoinder for Democrats expecting campaign attacks on the issue in 2006 and 2008.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122001488.html
Lebanon's Emerging Civil Society
Lebanon is a nation in transition. Wracked by civil war in the 1970s and 1980s, then dominated by Syria from 1990 to 2005, this diverse country of 3.8 million people is seeking to remake its political system. It won't be easy. The assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri last February led to the ending of Syria's domination of the country and brought a mandate for democracy. But it also stoked tensions among the country's Muslim and Christian populations. A new round of elections in 2005 brought in an anti-Syrian majority determined to secure a more democratic system. The first order of business for this new parliament is to rewrite the country's electoral law.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/custom/2005/12/20/CU2005122000921.html
Solstice Holidays
Five thousand years of human history--maybe more--have enfolded this season in rich garb--many layers of celebration, folklore and tradition. Here's where you get to unwrap the gift. We'll be adding more every day throughout the holiday season.
http://www.candlegrove.com/home.html
Click on Links
continued ...
"Okeydoke"
History
One view from a desolate hillside
Leader
Friday December 23, 1988
The Guardian
Two days before Christmas, two tides flow strongly. One - the greater tide - is the tide of peace. More nagging, bloody conflicts have been settled in 1988 than in any year since the end of the Second World War. There are forces for good abroad in the world as seldom before. There is also a tide of evil, a force of destruction. By just one of those ironies which afflict the human condition, peace came to Namibia yesterday. Meanwhile, on a Scottish hillside, the body of the Swedish UN Commissioner for Namibia was one amongst hundreds strewn across square miles of debris: a victim - supposition, but strongly based - of a random terrorist bomb which blown a 747 to bits at 31,000 feet. No-one could quite tell who was responsible. In a sick world, sick, anonymous voices called newspapers to claim conflicting responsibility. I am the Devil .. No, I am the Devil. There are two responses to that second, malevolent tide. One (valid, necessary) is to go about business as normal. To search the houses of Sherwood Crescent, Lockerbie , for the unknown corpses. To make statements of horror and compassion. To sift the hills for clues. To praise the efficiency of those who rushed to the rescue. And, of course, to ask questions. Was it structural failure in an elderly Jumbo? Or was the US Moscow embassy's relaxed alert, warning of a December bomb attack on a Pan Am flight from Frankfurt, more than coincidence? If so, why did routine security allow a bomb aboard? But if so, why was there a warning at all? What did it gain?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,12269,1378098,00.html
History
Today is Wednesday, Dec. 21, the 355th day of 2005. There are 10 days left in the year. Winter arrives at 1:35 p.m. Eastern time.
1620, Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower went ashore for the first time at present-day Plymouth, Mass.
On this date:
1767 Poet Phillis Wheatley's first poem appears in Newport Mercury Newspaper.
1804, British statesman Benjamin Disraeli was born in London.
1872 Robert S. Duncanson, a landscape artist, dies in Detroit, MI.
1898, scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered the radioactive element radium.
1911 Baseball legend Josh Gibson, who will be inducted into the 1972 Baseball Hall of Fame, is born in Buena Visto, GA.
1914, the first feature-length silent film comedy, "Tillie's Punctured Romance," was released.
1921 Acting Governor P.B.S. Pinchback of Louisiana dies in Washington, DC.
1942, the Supreme Court ruled all states had to recognize divorces granted in Nevada.
1945, Gen. George S. Patton died in Heidelberg, Germany, of injuries from a car accident.
1948 Actor Samuel Leroy Jackson who will be noted for his film roles in Jungle Fever, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, and The Negotiator, is born in Washington, DC.
1948, the state of Eire (formerly the Irish Free State) declared its independence.
1959 Olympic track star sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner, who will win a gold medal for the 100 and 200 meter dashes at the Summer Olympics, is born in Los Angeles, CA
1968, Apollo 8 was launched on a mission to orbit the moon.
1971, the U.N. Security Council chose Kurt Waldheim to succeed U Thant as Secretary-General.
1978, police in Des Plaines, Ill., arrested John W. Gacy Jr. and began unearthing the remains of 33 men and boys that Gacy was later convicted of murdering.
1988, 270 people were killed when a terrorist bomb exploded aboard a Pam Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, sending wreckage crashing to the ground.
Ten years ago: The House approved sweeping welfare reform that President Clinton said he would veto. (He later signed a revamped version.)
The city of Bethlehem passed from Israeli to Palestinian control.
Five years ago: President-elect Bush resigned as governor of Texas; Lt. Gov. Rick Perry was sworn in to replace him.
One year ago: A suicide bombing at a mess hall tent near Mosul, Iraq, killed 22 people, including 14 U.S. service members and three American contractors. Two French reporters held hostage for four months in Iraq were released.
Missing in Action
1966 GLENN DANNY ELLOY MUSKOGEE OK 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 SCURLOCK LEE D. RESTFUL LAKE OH
1968 ALLEE RICHARD K. PORT JERVIS NY REMAINS RETURNED 1996 REMAINS IDENTIFIED 04/30/98
1972 BEBUS CHARLES J. MINNEAPOLIS MN REMAINS RETURNED 11/88
1972 BEENS LYNN R. SALT LAKE CITY UT 03/27/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1972 BIRCH JOEL RAY PHOENIZ AZ NOT ON OFFICIAL DIA LIST. PARTIAL REMS RECOVERED 1972
1972 CRADDOCK RANDALL J. NORMAN OK REMAINS RETURNED 05/89
1972 CAFFARELLI CHARLES J. TYRONE PA
1972 DARR CHARLES E. LITTLE ROCK AR CREW MEMBERS BODY RETURNED REMAINS RETURNED 1988
1972 DICKENS DELMA E. OMEGA GA DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 02/21/85
1972 ELLIOTT ROBERT T. EL DORADO AR DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 02/21/85
1972 FENTER CHARLES F. TUCSON AZ DEAD -REMAINS RETURNED 02/21/85 FAMILY NOT ACCEPT
1972 FULLER JAMES R. CIBOLO TX DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 02/21/85 ID RECINDED
1972 GOULD FRANK A. NEW YORK NY
1972 GRAUSTEIN ROBERT STEWART FRYEBURG ME REMAINS RETURNED 12/04/85
1972 HART THOMAS T. III ORLANDO FL DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 02/21/85 ID RECINDED
1972 HEGGEN KEITH R. RENWICK IA 03/13/74 REMAINS RETURNED
1972 HIGDON KENNETH H. SAN FRANCISCO CA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED ALIVE IN 99
1972 JOHNSON EDWARD H. NEWBURG OR NO SUBSQUENT INTEL INFO REMAINS RETURNED 05/89
1972 KIRBY BOBBY A. ALTANTA GA REMAINS RETURNED 07/25/89
1972 KROBOTH STANLEY N. SAVANNAH GA DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 02/21/85
1972 LAGERWALL HARRY R. CARMEL NY DEAD REMAINS RECOVERED 02/21/85
1972 LILES ROBERT L. JR. SHREVEPORT LA DEAD REMAINS RECOVERED 02/21/85
1972 LOCKHART GEORGE B. SULPHUR SPRINGS TX REMAINS RETURNED 04/89
1972 LOLLAR JAMES L. KILMICHAEL MS 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV
1972 LYNN ROBERT R. JACKSONVILLE IL REMAINS RETURNED 06/89
1972 MAC DONALD GEORGE D. EVANSTON IL DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 02/21/85 ID RECINDED
1972 MEDER PAUL O. JAMICA NY REMAINS RETURNED 02/21/85
1972 NAGAHIRO JAMES Y. HONOLULU HI 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1972 NAKAGAWA GORDON R. NEW CASTLE CA 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 PERRY RONALD D. GALLATIN TN 12/21/75 SRV RETURNED REMAINS
1972 REAID ROLLIE K. DORA AL DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 02/01/85
1972 WADE BARTON S. JASPER IN REMAINS RETURNED 12/04/85
1972 WALSH FRANCIS A. WESTPORT CT DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 02/21/85
1972 WALTERS DONOVAN K. LEBANON NE REMAINS RETURNED 12/15/88
1972 WINNINGHAM JOHN Q. GROVER CITY CA DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 02/21/85
December 20
1965 JONES EDWIN D. RESCUED REFNO 0214
1965 HUDSON HENRY M. RESCUED
1965 JOHNSON GUY D. SEATTLE WA REMAINS RETURNED 03/18/77
1965 JEFFREY ROBERT D. LOS ANGELES CA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL IN 98
1965 MIMS GEORGE I. JR. MANNING SC
1965 NORDAHL LEE E. CHOTEAU MT PROB DEAD
1965 PITCHFORD JOHN J. NATCHEZ MS 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED ALIVE IN 98
1965 TRIER ROBERT DOUGLAS MEMPHIS TN POSS KIA RESISTING CAPTURE REM RET 10/14/82
1965 WAX DAVID J. BROOKLINE MA REMAINS IDENTIFIED 02 AUG 93
1966 LUCAS LARRY F. MARMET WV
1966 LUM DAVID ANTHONY HONOLULU HI
1967 CRANER ROBERT R. COHOES NY RETURNED 3/14/73 NOT ON ORIG DIA LIST DECEASED 10/03/80
1967 GRUTERS GUY D. SARASOTA FL 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1968 BOUCHARD MICHAEL L. MISSOULA MT
1968 KENT ROBERT DUANE DALLAS TX
1968 MORIN RICHARD GIRARD TWEKSBURY MA
1969 LONG CARL EDWIN COLLEGE STATION TX
1972 ARCURI WILLIAM Y. SATELLITE BEACH FL 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 GELONECK TERRY M. DECATUR AL 02/19/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1972 GRANGER PAUL L. SAN FRANCISCO CA 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1972 KLOMANN THOMAS J. OAK FOREST IL 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 LERNER IRWIN S. STRATFORD CT POSS KIA
1972 MADDEN ROY JR. HAYWARD CA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED DECEASED 1997
1972 MARTINI MICHAEL R. LOS ANGELES CA 02/19/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 96
1972 MC LAUGHLIN ARTHUR V. JR. ROXBURY MA POSS KIA
1972 PAUL CRAIG A. COLUMBUS OH 09/30/77 REMAINS RETURNED BY SRV
1972 PERRY RANDOLPH A. JR. TROY MT POSS KIA
1972 SPENCER WARREN R. LA CRESCENTA CA 09/30/77 REMAINS RETURNED BY SRV
1972 STUART JOHN F. INDIANAPOLIS IN
1972 WIELAND CARL T. ORLAND FL RELEASED 03/29/73 DECEASED
December 19
1968 PAYNE NORMAN CLEVELAND OH
1971 FORAME PETER C. MC LEAN VA
1971 JOHNSON KENNETH R. MINNEAPOLIS MN 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1971 POYNOR DANIEL R. ENID OK REMAINS IDENTIFIED 06/27/95
1971 SKILES THOMAS W. BUFFALO WY
1971 THOMAS LEO T. JR. GEORGETOWN KY REMAINS IDENTIFIED 06/27/95
1971 VAUGHAN SAMUEL R. ST. GEORGE SC 03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV " ""DICK"" ALIVE AND WELL 98"
1972 ALEXANDER FERNANDO DALLAS TX 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 BARROWS HENRY C. WESTFIELD NJ 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 BROWN CHARLES A. JR. BOSTON MA 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 1998
1972 COOPER RICHARD W. JR. SALISBURY MD
1972 POOLE CHARLIE S. GIBSLAND LA PROB DEAD / LAO DONG 6 CHILDREN/WIFE DIED 1996
1972 WILSON HAL K. HAMBURG NY 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV " ""RED"" ALIVE AND WELL
December 18
1968 BARRAS GREGORY I JACKSON MS "REMAINS RETURNED, IDENTIFIED 12/03/98"
1971 HILDEBRAND LELAND L. FIFIELD WI 03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 1998
1971 WELLS KENNETH VANCOUVER WA 03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 CERTAIN ROBERT G. SILVER SPRINGS MD 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 FERGUSON WALTER L. DETROIT MI 08/23/78 REMAINS RETURNED MONTGOM HANOI
1972 JOHNSON RICHARD E. OCEANSIDE CA 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1972 MC ELVAIN JAMES R. LA VERNE CA
1972 RISSI DONALD L. COLLINSVILLE IL 08/23/78 REMAINS RETURNED MONTGON HANOI
1972 SIMPSON RICHARD T. ANDERSON SC 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 THOMAS ROBERT J. MIAMI FL 08/23/78 REMAINS RETURNED MONTGOM HANOI
1972 WARD RONALD J. ANADARKO OK
December 17
1967 BOYER TERRY L. VISALIA CA 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1967 ELLIS JEFFREY T. CALDWELL NJ 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 FLEENOR KENNETH R. BOWLING GREEN KY 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
The New York Times
Gas Emissions Reached High in U.S. in '04
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: December 21, 2005
American emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global warming reached an all-time high in 2004, rising 2 percent from the year before, the Energy Department said, nearly double the average annual rate measured since 1990.
The department's Energy Information Administration, in a report issued Monday, also raised earlier government estimates of emissions for 2003, pushing that year past 2000 into second place.
No estimates were available for United States emissions in 2005, although energy experts say increased economic growth this year is likely to make it another record-setter.
The increases in 2003 and 2004 followed a brief dip in emissions in 2001 and 2002. Government officials said that decline reflected a slowdown in the economy, the departure of some manufacturing industries overseas, and emissions cuts in other industries.
Less than two weeks ago, Bush administration officials at climate-treaty talks in Montreal repeatedly cited the short-lived drop in emissions after 2000 as evidence that President Bush's climate policy, using voluntary measures to slow growth in the gas releases, was working.
In its report, the energy agency said that while overall emissions were growing, the rate of growth continued to slow relative to economic growth, and so remained on the track set by Mr. Bush.
Yesterday, Lord Rees, the president of the Royal Society, an independent British scientific academy similar to the National Academies in the United States, said the new American data showed that all industrialized countries needed to intensify efforts to cut emissions. He noted that Britain's emissions had also risen in the last two years.
Lord Rees said that the two countries and the other members of the Group of 8 biggest industrialized nations clearly had to do more to live up to a statement they issued at a summit meeting in Scotland in July, in which they resolved to act with "urgency" to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"We should not underestimate the challenge of achieving economic growth whilst reducing emissions, and the United States is not the only country that is struggling to do this," Lord Rees said in a statement. "But it seems unlikely that the present U.S. strategy of only setting emissions targets relative to economic growth, reducing so-called greenhouse gas intensity, will be enough."
Carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas generated by humans, remains an unavoidable byproduct of burning the fossil fuels that underpin modern life. Other powerful greenhouse gases include methane, which leaks from landfills and gas pipelines, and nitrous oxide, released mainly from fertilizer use in large-scale farms.
The gases are measured collectively in tons of carbon dioxide by converting the heat-trapping capacity of each gas into the amount of carbon dioxide that would have the same warming effect.
By this measure, total American emissions of the six major greenhouse gases in 2004 added up to the equivalent of 7.1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, up 2 percent from 6.98 billion metric tons in 2003. Emissions in 2000 were 6.97 billion tons, the agency said.
The energy agency's greenhouse gas report is online at eia.doe.gov/environment.html.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/national/21pollute.html
Spying Program Snared U.S. Calls
By JAMES RISEN and ERIC LICHTBLAU
Published: December 21, 2005
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 - A surveillance program approved by President Bush to conduct eavesdropping without warrants has captured what are purely domestic communications in some cases, despite a requirement by the White House that one end of the intercepted conversations take place on foreign soil, officials say.
The officials say the National Security Agency's interception of a small number of communications between people within the United States was apparently accidental, and was caused by technical glitches at the National Security Agency in determining whether a communication was in fact "international."
Telecommunications experts say the issue points up troubling logistical questions about the program. At a time when communications networks are increasingly globalized, it is sometimes difficult even for the N.S.A. to determine whether someone is inside or outside the United States when making a cellphone call or sending an e-mail message. As a result, people that the security agency may think are outside the United States are actually on American soil.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/politics/21nsa.html
In Final Hours, M.T.A. Took a Big Risk on Pensions
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: December 21, 2005
On the final day of intense negotiations, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, it turns out, greatly altered what it had called its final offer, to address many of the objections of the transit workers' union. The authority improved its earlier wage proposals, dropped its demand for concessions on health benefits and stopped calling for an increase in the retirement age, to 62 from 55.
Cars waited in traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge during the Tuesday evening commute. More Photos >
But then, just hours before the strike deadline, the authority's chairman, Peter S. Kalikow, put forward a surprise demand that stunned the union. Seeking to rein in the authority's soaring pension costs, he asked that all new transit workers contribute 6 percent of their wages toward their pensions, up from the 2 percent that current workers pay. The union balked, and then shut down the nation's largest transit system for the first time in a quarter-century.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/nyregion/nyregionspecial3/21collapse.html?hp&ex=1135227600&en=aebb5027b30744cc&ei=5094&partner=homepage
That Blur? It's China, Moving Up in the Pack
By DAVID BARBOZA and DANIEL ALTMAN
Published: December 21, 2005
SHANGHAI, Dec. 20 - Many economists have long suspected that official government statistics here provided only a shadow of reality.
With China's announcement on Tuesday that its economy was considerably bigger than previously estimated, economists and financial prognosticators are scrambling to rethink their assessment of China's rise and its role on the world stage. China's new figures suggest that it probably has passed France, Italy and Britain to become the world's fourth-largest economy.
Some economists are even accelerating their timetables for when China may eclipse the United States as the world's biggest economy. With the new figures offering a more expansive view of economic activity, some said China could overtake the United States as early as 2035, at least five years earlier than previous projections.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/business/worldbusiness/21yuan.html
Hussein Returns to Court for Resumption of Trial
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 21, 2005
Filed at 7:22 a.m. ET
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A noticeably calmer Saddam Hussein sat quietly in his defendant's chair at the resumption of his trial Wednesday, two weeks after he called the court ''unjust'' and boycotted a session. When the judge refused to let him take a break to pray, the former leader closed his eyes and appeared to pray from his seat.
Saddam and seven co-defendants are on trial in the deaths of more than 140 Shiite Muslims following a 1982 assassination attempt against him in the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad.
During previous sessions, Saddam has been defiant and combative at times, often trying to dominate the courtroom. He and his half brother-- Barazan Ibrahim, who was head of the Iraqi intelligence during the Dujail incident-- have used the procedures to protest their own conditions in detention.
The deposed president had refused to attend the previous session on Dec. 7. ''I will not come to an unjust court! Go to hell!'' he said in an outburst in court the day before.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Saddam-Trial.html
Afghan Parliament Opens, and Finds Democracy Is a Bit Untidy
By CARLOTTA GALL
Published: December 21, 2005
KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 20 - The two houses of Parliament began their first sessions on Tuesday, and in just a few hours provided a glimpse of democracy Afghan style, with the upper house ignoring the rules of procedure and the lower house getting bogged down in debate.
A presidential appointee and close ally of President Hamid Karzai, Sebaghatullah Mojadeddi, was elected chairman of the upper chamber, the House of Elders, although he won only after shaming his main opponent into stepping down out of respect for his age and reputation.
The lower chamber, the House of the People, which approves the cabinet and senior appointments, spent the morning debating whether to agree on rules of procedure first, or to elect a chairman and deputies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/international/asia/21afghan.html
New Drug Points Up Problems in Developing Cancer Cures
By GARDINER HARRIS
Published: December 21, 2005
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 - Despite promising discoveries and multibillion-dollar investments, cancer research is quietly undergoing a crisis. Federal drug regulators will soon announce several initiatives that they hope will help salvage the field.
Few drugs are being marketed, and most of those that have been introduced are enormously expensive and provide few of the benefits that patients expect. Officials of the Food and Drug Administration suggest that the failures may result from an obsolete testing system.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/health/21cancer.html
New Yorkers Contend With 2nd Day of Transit Strike
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
Published: December 21, 2005
New Yorkers headed to work on the second day of the transit strike this morning without subways or buses, as negotiations between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the transit union remained at an impasse.
Roger Toussaint, president of Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, announced the strike at union headquarters around 3 a.m. More Photos
Traffic was snarled this morning along many of the city's major roadways, including the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, as many commuters tried to get to get into Manhattan before a 5 a.m. ban on cars with fewer than four people took effect.
"It's really a hardship," said Bonnie Bromell, 50, who got up at 3 a.m. to drive in from Hastings, in Westchester County. "It's encroaching on the Christmas season. There are other things we could be doing, but we're not."
Pasted from <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/nyregion/nyregionspecial3/21cnd-strike.html?hp&ex=1135227600&en=6ea13bcca6d0ebc3&ei=5094&partner=homepage>
A Transit Local Lacking the Support of Its Parent Union
By SEWELL CHAN
Published: December 21, 2005
The transit workers' union, despite taking the extraordinary step of calling its first strike in 25 years, has revealed itself over the last 48 hours to be an organization wrestling with considerable discord - a local union, in fact, that is at complete odds with its larger parent organization.
The union's vote to strike, made at 1:15 a.m. yesterday in a closed-door session of the executive board, was opposed by three of seven vice presidents of the union, Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union. A fourth abstained.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/nyregion/nyregionspecial3/21negotiation.html?hp&ex=1135227600&en=d265d9810e072af3&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Thrown Together in a Crisis, Strangers Share Cars and Life Stories
By ALAN FEUER
Published: December 21, 2005
The BMW in Brooklyn held an office temp, a lawyer and a technology worker. The courier's van in Queens was crowded with the driver and his buddies and a man who had flagged them down.
Then there was the minivan, down from the Bronx, in northern Manhattan. In it were a doorman, a dental office worker and a man with his son.
Yesterday was a day many New Yorkers will long recall, a day when many put aside their fear and loathing of the stranger, a day when doctors, dancers and designers traded in the normal anonymity of subway trains for the intimacy of an unfamiliar car.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/nyregion/nyregionspecial3/21coping.html?hp&ex=1135227600&en=61a1f98c923d6e00&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Strike Inflicts Broad Economic Pain
By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
Published: December 21, 2005
At Century 21, the discount department store near Wall Street where shopping is usually a contact sport, a smattering of customers yesterday found the retail version of a Christmas miracle: entire aisles to themselves and no lines at the registers.
At F. illi Ponte, a venerable TriBeCa restaurant that gave its employees cab fare on Monday to make sure they would show up to work yesterday, half the day's reservations were canceled.
And at a Midtown spot near Bryant Park where a 52-story office tower is being built, barely half the construction workers made it to the job, and those who did were slowed by delays in getting building materials delivered.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/nyregion/nyregionspecial3/21business.html?hp&ex=1135227600&en=fa58925676d2f99b&ei=5094&partner=homepage
New Jersey Plans Broad Steroid Testing for School Sports
By RICHARD LEZIN JONES
Published: December 21, 2005
WEST ORANGE, N.J., Dec. 20 - New Jersey's acting governor signed an executive order Tuesday that requires random steroid testing for athletes on high school teams that qualify for postseason play. The order makes the state the first to test high school students in all sports for performance-enhancing drugs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/sports/othersports/21steroids.html
Old Curative Gets New Life at Tiny Scale
By BARNABY J. FEDER
Published: December 20, 2005
Silver, one of humankind's first weapons against bacteria, is receiving new respect for its antiseptic powers, thanks to the growing ability of researchers to tinker with its molecular structure.
Doctors prescribed silver to fight infections at least as far back as the days of ancient Greece and Egypt. Their knowledge was absorbed by Rome, where historians like Pliny the Elder reported that silver plasters caused wounds to close rapidly. More recently, in 1884, a German doctor named C. S. F. Crede demonstrated that a putting a few drops of silver nitrate into the eyes of babies born to women with venereal disease virtually eliminated the high rates of blindness among such infants.
But silver's time-tested - if poorly understood - versatility as a disinfectant was overshadowed in the latter half of the 20th century by the rise of antibiotics.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/20/health/20nano.html
RIA Novosti
United States has problems with democracy
19:46
16/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW. (Gennady Yevstafyev for RIA Novosti.) A chain of scandalous revelations about Washington's human rights violations both in the U.S. and abroad is increasingly worrying even those who look with patience at the conduct of the current U.S. Administration.
These condescending people believed that the painful lessons learned in Iraq and other places would sober up the men in Washington, but this hasn't happened.
The recent arguments about secret U.S. jails in third countries, and "flying prisons" prove that Washington has not learned any lessons from previous scandals involving an illegal concentration camp for Afghans located at the Guantanamo naval base in Cuba, not to mention the crimes committed by U.S. officials in the secret Iraqi prison of Abu Grabe.
Let's examine the case of Khaled El-Masri, whom the American Civil Liberties Union helped take the CIA to court for creating a chain of secret prisons and torturing prisoners. Even though he is a German citizen, he was illegally abducted in Macedonia and subjected to illegal and prohibited methods of investigation: torture, regular beatings, and the use of drugs. It appeared that he was completely innocent, and was merely mistaken for someone else. This is not the only case.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20051216/42528298.html
Russia to take Syria's side if conflict with U.S. arises - Russian MPs
20:41
20/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will take Syria's side if charges against Syrian officials with involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri cause a conflict between the United States and Syria, two Russian parliamentary members said Tuesday.
"If Russia is to choose between its two strategic allies, it will undoubtedly take Syria's side," said Shamil Sultanov, a coordinator of an inter-faction association, Russia and the Islamic World: A Strategic Dialogue.
Nikolai Leonov, a member of parliament's security committee, who had recently visited Syria along with Sultanov and other MPs, said it was primarily beneficial for the U.S. to accuse Syria of murdering Hariri. "Indeed, Syria is an excellent oil corridor with access to deep-water Mediterranean ports. Besides, this is a good pretext to distract the world community's attention from the events in Iraq," the MP said.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051220/42587105.html
Russian plan may boost talks on Iran's nuclear program - viewpoint
15:42
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's initiative on uranium enrichment on its territory may help break the deadlock in the talks on Iran's nuclear program, the head of the Russian Political Studies Center said Wednesday.
Vladimir Orlov said he did not expect any significant results from Iran's talks with the EU troika (Britain, France and Germany) opening in Vienna Wednesday.
He said the meeting itself was important given the current cooling of Iran's relations with the world community.
He also said Iran's position on Russia's proposal to create a bilateral joint venture to enrich uranium in Russia was critical and that the initiative was backed by the United States, the EU troika, the IAEA and other countries.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051221/42605091.html
Budget revenue from subsoil auctions to hit $1.2 bln in 2005
13:21
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - Budget revenues from mineral deposit auctions in 2005 will total more than 35 billion rubles ($1.2 billion), a 38-fold increase against last year's figure, the Russian natural resources minister said Wednesday.
Yury Trutnev said last year's revenues from mineral deposit auctions amounted to 919 million rubles ($32.1 million).
He added that payments for the use of forests would add $118.6 million ($108.2 million in 2004) to the budget and tariffs on water would contribute $373.2 million ($334.9 million in 2004).
http://en.rian.ru/business/20051221/42598405.html
Russia to auction off 800 hydrocarbon deposits in 2006
13:00
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Federal Agency for Subsoil Use intends to hold 1,000 auctions next year, including 800 hydrocarbon and 200 solid mineral deposit tenders, the natural resources minister said Wednesday.
Yury Trutnev said the 2006 budget plan for one-time payments would be 20 billion rubles (about $699 million) and that the ministry would spend 4.6 billion (about $160 million) rubles in 2006 on the construction of water facilities.
http://en.rian.ru/business/20051221/42597535.html
Subsoil law to be adopted early next year
14:40
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - The delay in the approval of the new version of the subsoil law could be one to two months, the natural resources minister said Wednesday. Yury Trutnev said the delay was not decisive for Russia as a whole and expressed the hope that the law would be adopted in the first half of 2006.
According to Trutnev, his ministry would finalize the law and send it to the regions for repeat discussion.
Trutnev said the current amendments did not change the structure of the law.
"They deal with the admission of foreign companies to deposits, the procedure of getting the right of subsoil use under the licenses issued before the adoption of the new law and the possibility for the state to terminate such contracts out of court," he said.
Trutnev said it was necessary to determine subsoils where preferences for domestic companies should be made.
The minister said the criteria of more than 1 trillion cu m of gas and 150 million metric tons of oil for deposits to be called strategic were necessary in the new law.
"Otherwise, we would simply deceive our foreign partners," he said.
http://en.rian.ru/business/20051221/42602617.html
URGENT: Sibneft buys 75% stake in company licensed to survey Sakhalin shelf
14:28
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russian oil major Sibneft has purchased from the Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP a 75% stake in a company licensed to survey the Lopukhovsky section of the Sakhalin shelf in the Far East, Sibneft said Wednesday.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051221/42601789.html
URGENT: Court upholds bank syndicate's $482mln tax claim against Yukos
15:00
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow's arbitration court upheld a $482 million tax claim against the embattled oil major Yukos filed by a syndicate of foreign banks.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051221/42603961.html
Lawyers appeal 14-yr sentence for Yukos official
12:38
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - Lawyers for a former manager of embattled oil giant Yukos sentenced to 14 years in prison for money laundering filed an appeal with the Moscow City Court Wednesday.
"We consider the verdict illegal and ungrounded," Yury Larin, attorney for former Yukos-Moskva deputy manager Alexei Kurtsin, said.
On December 1, Moscow's Lefortovo court handed down a guilty verdict for all those involved in the Yukos-Moskva case, sentencing eight former managers to up to 13 years in prison. An investigation showed that Kurtsin and Yukos-Moskva Senior Vice President Mikhail Trushin, who is still at large, laundered 342 million rubles ($11.9 million) through fictitious charities registered in several large Russian cities. Investigators claim the bulk of laundered funds went directly to Trushin and Kurtsin.
Yuganskneftegaz, the main production subsidiary of state-owned oil company Rosneft, has been declared an injured party though it did not file suit during the trials.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051221/42596757.html
Number of poisoned people in Chechnya increases
15:36
21/ 12/ 2005
GROZNY, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - The number of Chechen residents poisoned by an unidentified substance has reached 63 people, many of whom are children, a local healthcare official said Wednesday.
"Fifty-five people with symptoms of severe poisoning have been hospitalized," Umar Akhyadov said, adding that 45 of them were children.
The victims are residents of four settlements in the Shelkovsky district of Chechnya.
Medical personnel are still attempting to establish the cause of poisoning, the official said.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051221/42605068.html
Russian Regional Jet enters the world market
15:09
20/ 12/ 2005
Moscow. (RIA Novosti political commentator Andrey Kislyakov) The Russian Regional Jet (RRJ) is the most ambitious and dynamic national aviation industry program.
The first RRJ prototype is scheduled to make its maiden flight next year.
Being a new next generation airliner, the RRJ family is highly advanced, economical, has excellent flying characteristics, equipped with the latest in avionics and has a modern customer support infrastructure.
Russia is definitely going to enter the regional aircraft world market. In late November 2005, Sukhoi Civil Aviation (SCA) Concern and Concord Aviation, a leasing company from Dubai, signed a contract for the delivery of 40 95-seat RRJ-95s.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20051220/42580439.html
Global development program awards Armenia $237-mln grant
13:53
21/ 12/ 2005
YEREVAN, December 21 (RIA Novosti, Gamlet Matevosyan) - The board of the U.S. Millennium Challenge Account Corporation has approved a $236.65-million grant for Armenia, a spokesman for the Armenian National Committee of America said Wednesday.
"The grant is designed to reduce poverty in Armenia by improving the efficiency of the country's agriculture," the Armenian representative said. The two-part program will rebuild the country's rural roads and develop its irrigation system, with allocations of $67 million and $146 million, respectively. About $22 million has been designated to manage and monitor the program. The Millennium Challenge Account will monitor Armenian policies throughout the five-year term of the grant, maintaining the right to halt or cancel the program if Armenia fails to honor its commitments.
The program is expected to cover 75% of the rural sector in the hope that the annual revenue of Armenia's rural population will reach $36 million by 2010 and $113 million by 2015.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20051221/42599906.html
Court upholds constitutionality of new gubernatorial election procedures
13:16
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Constitutional Court confirmed Wednesday that the president-proposed new gubernatorial election procedures were lawful.
The court said the new procedures accounted for regional interests since they stipulated that the president's gubernatorial candidates must be approved by local legislatures. The court ruled that the procedures were not a violation of "the principle of the division of powers and federalism."
The court was considering a complaint filed by Vladimir Grishkevich, a resident of Tyumen (Urals) who tried to challenge the local legislature's approval of Sergei Sobyanin's candidacy for Tyumen governor February 17. A regional court declined to review the case, so Grishkevich then appealed to the Constitutional Court.
"Sergei Sobyanin being appointed governor with a five-year term by the local legislature, rather than being elected to the post through general elections, violates my constitutional right to participate in elections at all levels," Grishkevich said.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051221/42598207.html
Constitutional Court hesitant about moving to St. Petersburg
13:25
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - The chairman of the Constitutional Court expressed hope Wednesday that the court would not move from Moscow to St. Petersburg anytime soon.
"I cannot comment on it [the move], because we still do not have an official legislative document," Valery Zorkin said. "But I hope that the country will make a correct decision, and the move will not happen anytime soon, and we will stay here [in Moscow] for a while."
Speaker of the lower house of parliament Boris Gryzlov said Tuesday that the State Duma was planning to submit the bill on the move to the government as early as this week.
Zorkin said he could not comment on the political implications of the move, but the issue "should be considered thoroughly."
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051221/42598583.html
Putin wishes Georgian counterpart happy birthday
12:28
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - Vladimir Putin sent a presidential birthday greeting to Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili Wednesday, the Russian presidential press service said.
"I'm sure the constructive dialogue on all the spheres of Russian-Georgian cooperation will improve bilateral relations, meet the interests of the two countries' peoples and consolidate peace and stability in the Caucasus," the Russian president said.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051221/42596429.html
President Putin: no branches of foreign banks in Russia
17:05
16/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti economic commentator Nina Kulikova.) Russian President Vladimir Putin supported the banking community's desire to restrict the activities of foreign bank branches in the country at a meeting with Russian bankers in Novosibirsk yesterday.
"I want to confirm that the Russian government agrees with our banking community that activities of foreign bank branches in Russia should today be restricted or, in fact, prohibited," Putin said. Thus, he publicly endorsed the stance adopted by many bankers and experts who had repeatedly spoken against admitting them into the country.
The problem of admitting foreigners to Russian financial markets appeared as the country began integrating in the global economy. It remains one of the main obstacles in Russia's WTO accession talks. Foreign partners demand that Russia allow branches to work in the country, but the position of Russian negotiators is firm. The country cannot afford it, because such changes may cause severe problems for its underdeveloped banking system.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20051216/42524682.html
Foreign currency exchange rates as fixed by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation for December 22
12:55
21/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - The following rates of exchange of foreign currencies to the ruble of the Russian Federation have been fixed for the purposes of accounting and customs duty payments from December 22, 2005:
1 Australian dollar - 21.1810 rubles
1 British pound sterling - 50.5537 rubles
1,000 Belarusian rubles - 13.3664 rubles
10 Danish krones - 45.8154 rubles
1 US dollar - 28.7629 rubles
1 euro - 34.1962 rubles
100 Icelandic krones - 45.2531 rubles
100 Kazakh tenges - 21.5396 rubles
1 Canadian dollar - 24.5459 rubles
1 new Turkish lira - 21.2665 rubles
10 Norwegian krones - 42.4188 rubles
1 unit of conditional drawing rights - 41.4471 rubles
1 Singapore dollar - 17.2491 rubles
10 Ukrainian hryvnias - 56.6400 rubles
10 Swedish kronas - 36.2130 rubles
1 Swiss franc - 22.0051 rubles
100 Japanese yen - 24.5774 rubles
The foreign currency exchange rates to the ruble of the Russian Federation entail no obligation on the part of the Bank of Russia to buy or sell the currencies according to the above rates.
http://en.rian.ru/business/20051221/42597362.html
The Washington Post
Spy Court Judge Quits In Protest
Jurist Concerned Bush Order Tainted Work of Secret Panel
By Carol D. Leonnig and Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, December 21, 2005; Page A01
A federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of President Bush's secret authorization of a domestic spying program, according to two sources.
U.S. District Judge James Robertson, one of 11 members of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, sent a letter to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. late Monday notifying him of his resignation without providing an explanation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122000685.html
Defending Science by Defining It
By David Brown and Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, December 21, 2005; Page A20
The opinion written by Judge John E. Jones III in the Dover evolution trial is a two-in-one document that offers both philosophical and practical arguments against "intelligent design" likely to be useful to far more than a school board in a small Pennsylvania town.
Jones gives a clear definition of science, and recounts how this vaunted mode of inquiry has evolved over the centuries. He describes how scientists go about the task of supporting or challenging ideas about the world of the senses -- all that can be observed and measured. And he reaches the unwavering conclusion that intelligent design is a religious idea, not a scientific one.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122001715.html
Transit Strike Throws Off the Meter of N.Y. With Cabs a Last Resort, City Uses a Zone Defense
By David Segal
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 21, 2005; Page C01
NEW YORK, Dec. 20 -- The fate of New York City fell on the hunched shoulders of Sotirios Gavritsas on Tuesday. And frankly, it sort of bummed him out.
"I'm depressed, you know what I mean?" he said, taking a right turn onto Lexington Avenue at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. "I don't like it one bit. I find it very depressing."
Forget those rates: Cabbies were forced to use zoned fares on the first day of the strike. (By Chris Hondros -- Getty Images)
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You'd think that Gavritsas would be having the time of his life. He's part of the legion of New York taxi drivers, which for now makes him the best hope for the teeming masses trying to cover Manhattan ground. Transit workers walked off their jobs early Tuesday morning, after leaders of their union rejected a final offer from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the organization that oversees the largest subway and bus system in the country.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122001762.html
The Christmas He Dreamed for All of Us
By Harold Meyerson
Wednesday, December 21, 2005; Page A31
The white Christmases that Irving Berlin dreamed of weren't the earliest ones he used to know. He spent his first five Christmases in czarist Russia, and his only recollection of that time, at least the only one he'd acknowledge as an adult, was that of watching his neighbors burn his family's house to the ground in a good old-fashioned, Jew-hating pogrom.
So it's no surprise that when Berlin got around to writing his great Christmas song in 1941, nearly half a century after his family had fled the shtetl of Mohilev for New York's Lower East Side, it was flatly devoid of Christian imagery. It is, for all that, a religious song. It's just that Berlin's religion was America.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122001011.html
4 GOP Senators Hold Firm Against Patriot Act Renewal
More Safeguards Needed, They Say
By Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 21, 2005; Page A04
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) could barely conceal his anger.
"The Patriot Act expires on December 31, but the terrorist threat does not," he told reporters at the Capitol yesterday. "Those on the Senate floor who are filibustering the Patriot Act are killing the Patriot Act."
GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, with staff on the Hill, said, "I think the responsible thing to do at this point is to move forward with a three-month extension." (By Melina Mara -- The Washington Post)
Patriot Act Primer
The USA PATRIOT Act, approved overwhelmingly by Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, greatly expanded the government's power to monitor, search, detain or deport suspects in terrorism-related investigations.
Politics Trivia
Former Sen. William Proxmire died on Dec. 15 at age 90. Which record does he hold in the Senate?
Longest filibuster in Senate history.
Most consecutive roll call votes cast by a senator.
Sat in the same seat for the duration of his Senate tenure.
Missed the greatest percentage of votes during his Senate tenure.
There was just one problem. Well, four problems, actually. Four of the 46 senators using the delaying tactic to thwart the USA Patriot Act renewal are members of Frist's party. It is a pesky, irritating fact for Republicans who are eager to portray the impasse as Democratic obstructionism, and a ready-made rejoinder for Democrats expecting campaign attacks on the issue in 2006 and 2008.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122001488.html
Lebanon's Emerging Civil Society
Lebanon is a nation in transition. Wracked by civil war in the 1970s and 1980s, then dominated by Syria from 1990 to 2005, this diverse country of 3.8 million people is seeking to remake its political system. It won't be easy. The assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri last February led to the ending of Syria's domination of the country and brought a mandate for democracy. But it also stoked tensions among the country's Muslim and Christian populations. A new round of elections in 2005 brought in an anti-Syrian majority determined to secure a more democratic system. The first order of business for this new parliament is to rewrite the country's electoral law.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/custom/2005/12/20/CU2005122000921.html
Solstice Holidays
Five thousand years of human history--maybe more--have enfolded this season in rich garb--many layers of celebration, folklore and tradition. Here's where you get to unwrap the gift. We'll be adding more every day throughout the holiday season.
http://www.candlegrove.com/home.html
Click on Links
continued ...
This is simply my favorite constillation. This is just for fun. A present to myself for the upcoming Holiday. I'll share it with you.
December 1, 2005.
The Seven Sisters Constillation as seen from Bedford, New Hampshire.
Global Warming Clouds over Yosemite
December 18, 2005.
Yosemite National Park.
Photogrpher states :: Another in the endless variations of light and clouds in Yosemite Valley during winter. This shot presented itself only after standing in driving rain for 3 hours looking at near white-out cloud overage. Finally late in the afternoon the clouds parted just enough to shoot about 25 exposures and that was it!! 25 decent exposures is all I got out of a total of 4 hours standing at Tunnel View in the freezing rain.
Morning Papers - continued ...
Guardian Unlimited
Melting of permafrost threatens homes and roads, scientists warn
· Study foresees huge release of carbon by 2100
· Water runoff could affect global currents
David Adam, environment correspondent
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
Global warming could melt almost all of the top layer of Arctic permafrost by the end of the century. Scientists say the thaw would release vast stocks of carbon into the atmosphere, threaten ocean currents and wreck roads and buildings across Canada, Alaska and Russia.
David Lawrence, a climate scientist with the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, said: "There's a lot of carbon stored in the soil. If the permafrost does thaw, as our model predicts, it could have a major influence on climate." Thawing permafrost is one of several climate "tipping points" feared by environmental experts, because carbon released by melted soil would accelerate global warming. Permafrost makes up about a quarter of land surface in the northern hemisphere and the upper layer is believed to hold at least 30% of the carbon stored in soil worldwide.
Dr Lawrence said: "In terms of its impact on the global climate, I don't see how it can be good news, but just how bad it is is unclear. It's very difficult to see how we can halt it. We may be able to slow it down."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1671774,00.html
Hospitals fail to control killer bug
Outbreaks led to 934 deaths last year
James Meikle, health correspondent
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
Hospitals are failing to follow rules to control a killer bug which has been linked to three times as many deaths as MRSA. Health watchdogs have found that NHS managers in England are failing to isolate patients struck by the virulent bug, Clostridium difficile, a bacterium responsible for 934 deaths among 44,500 patients infected by it last year.
But some hospital trusts say they do not have suitable bedspace to cope with a problem which most believe is getting worse. Dozens of hospitals - about a quarter in England - had to close wards in the last 12 months because of outbreaks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1671824,00.html
Flu vaccine not as effective as studies suggest, say researchers
Sarah Boseley, health editor
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
The flu jab is not as effective in protecting elderly people as studies have suggested because most of those who are vaccinated are healthier than those who are not, according to new research.
A study examining the health records of 73,527 people aged over 65 during an eight-year period in the US found that those who failed to get a flu jab were more likely to die or end up in hospital not only during the flu season and after it, but also before it began.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1671777,00.html
Special Report
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/0,11381,618095,00.html
Reforms may let young killers escape life in jail
· 'Screwed up' youngsters may get new defence
· 'Two tiers' of murder put forward for big law change
Clare Dyer, legal editor
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
Children who kill could escape a life sentence by pleading "developmental immaturity" under proposals published yesterday for the biggest shake-up of murder law in over 50 years.
Under the recommendations, part of a Home Office review of murder, children who kill "in circumstances suggesting incomplete moral development of mental functioning" could claim their responsibility was diminished and their crime should not be punished by a life sentence.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,2763,1671835,00.html
US judge bans intelligent design from science lessons
· Victory for parents on teaching of evolution
· Theory ruled to be religion by the back door
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
A courtroom battle seen as a test case for the teaching of science in America ended in a decisive victory for evolution yesterday when a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled that it was unconstitutional to teach "intelligent design" in biology class.
In a 139-page decision that was scathing about the area school district and dismissive of the science of "intelligent design", US district judge John Jones III ruled that the school district of Dover, Pennsylvania, had violated the constitution by ordering teachers to read a statement which challenged Darwin's theory of evolution.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1671680,00.html
Combining food additives may be harmful, say researchers
· Aspartame and artificial colourings investigated
· Mice nerve cells stopped growing in experiments
Felicity Lawrence, consumer affairs correspondent
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
New research on common food additives, including the controversial sweetener aspartame and food colourings, suggests they may interact to interfere with the development of the nervous system.
Researchers at the University of Liverpool examined the toxic effects on nerve cells in the laboratory of using a combination of four common food additives - aspartame, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and the artificial colourings brilliant blue and quinoline yellow. The findings of their two-year study were published last week in the journal Toxicological Sciences.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,2763,1671818,00.html
Pupils to get nicotine patches
Martin Wainwright
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
School pupils as young as 12 are to be given nicotine patches to help them stop smoking. Nurses and trained staff at six secondary schools in County Durham, close to the prime minister's Sedgefield constituency, will prescribe the treatment and monitor usage and results.
The programme follows a successful pilot scheme at Greencroft school in Annfield Plain last year, where half of a group of 30 children who were given the patches stopped smoking. Regular cigarette use in the region is slightly higher than the country-wide average, which experts say is 1% of 11-year-olds. This rises to 16% of boys and 26% of girls by the age of 16.
http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,5500,1671805,00.html
BBC1 drops Saturday kids' TV
Jason Deans
Wednesday December 21, 2005
Dick and Dom: Saturday morning kids' shows could be moving to BBC2 permanently
The BBC is planning to shift Saturday morning children's TV away from BBC1, ending a 30-year broadcasting tradition stretching back to Multicoloured Swap Shop in the 70s.
From Saturday January 7, BBC1's morning line-up, including Dick & Dom in da Bungalow and Top of the Pops Reloaded, will switch to BBC2 between 6am and noon.
The Saturday morning BBC2 schedule, including Breakfast, Weekend 24 and Saturday Kitchen, will move the other way.
http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1671546,00.html
The new world disorder
Martin Woollacott
Friday December 21, 1990
The Guardian
It is ironic that on the same day that the security council has produced a resolution that could help to avoid war in the Gulf, we have the clearest evidence yet that Soviet foreign policy, so critical to a united approach, is under severe attack at home.
The most emotional section of Eduard Shevardnadze's resignation speech was his rejection of charges that he was ready to send Soviet troops to the Gulf.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,12269,1671574,00.html
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Senator Stevens plays blackmail with piers.
For Stevens, drilling in Alaska is personal payback
By LAURIE KELLMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The Incredible Hulk appeared Tuesday on the Senate floor, adorning the necktie of Sen. Ted Stevens - a familiar sign that the veteran from Alaska is pumped for the fight to open part of an arctic wildlife refuge to oil drilling.
But to hear his colleagues tell it, Stevens is more like the Grinch who would steal Christmas - and New Year's, if need be - to collect on his end of a vote-swapping deal he struck with two Democrats 25 years ago.
"A promise made is a debt unpaid," Stevens, 82, is fond of repeating. "This is a debt unpaid to this Senate, to the country, to Alaska."
Back in 1980, the deal went like this: Vote yes on setting aside 19 million acres of wilderness, said Sens. Henry "Scoop" Jackson of Washington and Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts, and Congress will support permission to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Stevens agreed. Tsongas and Jackson, meanwhile, died before Congress could grant permission to drill.
Their debt survives, Stevens insists. And he's playing procedural hardball to make the Senate pay up.
"We're going to have to face up to ANWR either now or Christmas Day or New Year's Eve or sometime," Stevens thundered from the Senate floor Tuesday, bucking criticism from drilling opponents furious that he succeeded in attaching the drilling permission to a must-pass bill to fund the military.
Off the floor, Stevens acknowledged he has little to lose by muscling opponents into this uncomfortable choice: Vote for a bill that allows arctic drilling or be seen as blocking money for troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, new aid for hurricane victims and subsidies to help the poor meet what are expected to be record winter heating bills.
"This is the toughest battle I've ever had," Stevens said Tuesday, a senatorial red handkerchief perched in a jacket pocket just inches from his surly alter ego.
The big green guy on the necktie is famous in the Senate for injecting a bit of playfulness into spending fights during Stevens' years chairing the Senate Appropriations Committee. "I've won every other battle with it on, so I'm wearing it for this one," Stevens said.
All-night sessions and a list of stalled bills have left little humor on Capitol Hill as the clock ticks toward the end of the year.
"This is, after all, Christmas!" Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., complained on the Senate floor.
The showdown vote could come as early as Wednesday.
The 1980 law doubled to 19 million acres the size of the Alaska wildlife refuge. Stevens said he supported that law only after Jackson and Tsongas promised him that Congress would later consider allowing drilling on a 1.5 million-acre tract bordering the Beaufort Sea.
Democrats disagreed on whether current senators are obligated to pay what Stevens calls a "debt" owed him by Jackson and Tsongas.
"The Grinch Who Stole the Defense Bill," they called Stevens in a news release put out Tuesday by the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee and Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
"Every Sen. in Washington liked the defense bill a lot," they added, channeling Dr. Seuss. "But Stevens, who lives north, in Alaska, did NOT."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_Stevens_Hurrah.html
Seattle in vanguard of tsunami research
Goal is speedier forecasting of a possible disaster
By TOM PAULSON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
In the wake of last year's Indian Ocean tsunami, Seattle has expanded its scientific talent pool for studying the killer waves and launched what is now perhaps the world's largest research organization devoted to tsunamis.
With the Pacific Northwest equally at risk from a major tsunami, scientists are focused on forecasting what to expect when, not if, it happens here.
NOAA research scientist Diego Arcas talks about NOAA's Tsunami Forecast, Measurement and Modeling Systems. Behind him is a projected map of the Pacific Rim showing DARTs (Deep Ocean Assesment of Tsunamis; Red dots) and SIMs (Standby Inundation Mode; yellow squares) that will make up the building blocks of the Tsunami Warning System. The insert shows the Ocean Shores-Grays Harbor area of the Washington coast.
More than a dozen mathematical modelers and software wizards have been newly recruited to analyze the complex, chaotic information that determines tsunami behavior. They are creating simulations that can be used to rapidly predict if a deep-sea quake will produce a tsunami, how big it will be and how it may affect U.S. coastal communities.
"The idea is to pre-compute a lot of the information so we can do it in minutes instead of hours," said Diego Arcas, a new forecaster for the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Seattle station.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/252829_tsunamilab21.html
Gregoire pitches stronger tsunami warning system
By CURT WOODWARD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
OLYMPIA, Wash. - Washington's coastal counties would get another batch of high-tech tsunami warning stations under a disaster management plan proposed by Gov. Christine Gregoire.
The state has been working to upgrade the warning systems since this summer, when a faulty phone line failed to trigger alerts in several coastal areas.
Gregoire's supplemental state budget request, unveiled Tuesday, asks the Legislature for $500,000 to install All Hazard Alert Broadcasting stations in four counties.
Her proposal would pay for about 10 of the stations, doubling the number planned for Washington's coast under a previous federal project.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WST_Gregoire_Emergencies.html
Gregoire's ambitious plan to clean Sound
$42 million spending boost proposed
By LISA STIFFLER AND ROBERT McCLURE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS
Hoping to rocket the restoration of Puget Sound into national prominence, Gov. Christine Gregoire announced Monday the most ambitious plan to date to clean up toxic dumps around the Sound, prevent oil spills and take other actions to revive the ailing inland sea.
Gregoire's $42 million proposal would provide a boost to the approximately $90 million currently earmarked for Sound-related work each year.
Cody Woodruff of Manson Construction sweeps sediment off a dock on the Foss Waterway in Tacoma. As part of the cleanup, Manson Construction was hired to deposit a gravel mixture to cover up some of the contaminated areas.
Although it represents a big bump in spending, the money is only a modest down payment on a 15-year program to restore the Sound -- to make it once again fishable and swimmable, the governor pledged.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/252749_sound20.html
Jet with problem lands safely in Boston
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON -- A jetliner with a landing gear problem touched down safely at Logan International late Tuesday after circling the airport for about two hours.
Sparks could be seen coming from an area near the right landing gear as the aircraft landed just before 10 p.m., but the plane rolled to a stop without incident.
Midwest Airlines Flight 210 had 86 passengers and four crew members on board. Passengers remained on the jet as it was towed to a gate.
Air traffic controllers reported seeing sparks at the rear of the plane after it took off at about 8:15 p.m., bound for Milwaukee, said Laura Brown, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Logan_Plane.html
Judge rules against Pa. biology curriculum
By MARTHA RAFFAELE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Tammy Kitzmiller, left, and Christy Rhem express their happiness during a new conferece Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2005, in Harrisburg Pa., after hearing the verdicit from U.S. District Judge John E. Jones that prevents the Dover School District from teching "intelligent design" in biology class. (AP Photo/Daniel Shanken)
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- In one of the biggest courtroom clashes between faith and evolution since the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, a federal judge barred a Pennsylvania public school district Tuesday from teaching "intelligent design" in biology class, saying the concept is creationism in disguise.
U.S. District Judge John E. Jones delivered a stinging attack on the Dover Area School Board, saying its first-in-the-nation decision in October 2004 to insert intelligent design into the science curriculum violated the constitutional separation of church and state.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Evolution_Debate.html
Source: Abramoff lawyers in talks with DOJ
By PETE YOST
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Lawyers for Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff are in discussions with the Justice Department about his possible cooperation in a congressional corruption probe, a person involved in the investigation said Tuesday night.
The probe involves a number of members of Congress as well as staff. A former aide to ex-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, has already pleaded guilty.
Abramoff would plead guilty under an arrangement that would settle a criminal case against him in Florida as well as potential corruption charges in Washington, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1155AP_Abramoff_Probe.html
REMEMBER the other day Bush stated, "Tom DeLay is not guilty?" What has Gonzalez got cooking to get DeLay off the hook?
DeLay officially files for re-election
By MICHAEL GRACZYK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HOUSTON -- Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, facing trial on charges of money laundering, officially filed Tuesday to run for a 12th term in his suburban Houston district.
The filing was not unexpected.
Republican DeLay, who has denied any wrongdoing and has accused Democrat Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle of conducting a political witch hunt, must deal with at least two GOP challengers in the March primary. He already has been campaigning against his likely general election opponent, former Rep. Nick Lampson.
DeLay filed by petition with the Republican Party of Texas, delivering almost 1,000 signatures collected by volunteers. Filing by petition, instead of paying a filing fee, requires 500 signatures from registered voters in his district.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1133AP_DeLay_Candidacy.html
Donors underwrite DeLay's deluxe lifestyle
By LARRY MARGASAK AND SHARON THEIMER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERS
Former House Majority Leader, Rep. Tom Delay, R-Texas, left, prepares to tee off as President Bush swings in the background during a morning golf outing with three House Republicans at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland in this July 27, 2002 file photo. As DeLay became a king of political fundraising, he lived like one too. Over the past six years, the Republican and his aides have visited cliff-top Caribbean resorts, golf courses designed by PGA champions and four-star restaurants - all courtesy of donors who bankrolled his political money empire. (AP Photo/Kenneth Lambert, Files)
WASHINGTON -- As Tom DeLay became a king of campaign fundraising, he lived like one too. He visited cliff-top Caribbean resorts, golf courses designed by PGA champions and four-star restaurants - all courtesy of donors who bankrolled his political money empire.
Over the past six years, the former House majority leader and his associates have visited places of luxury most Americans have never seen, often getting there aboard corporate jets arranged by lobbyists and other special interests.
Public documents reviewed by The Associated Press tell the story: at least 48 visits to golf clubs and resorts; 100 flights aboard company planes; 200 stays at hotels, many world-class; and 500 meals at restaurants, some averaging nearly $200 for a dinner for two.
Instead of his personal expense, the meals and trips for DeLay and his associates were paid with donations collected by the campaign committees, political action committees and children's charity the Texas Republican created during his rise to the top of Congress. His lawyer says the expenses are part of DeLay's effort to raise money from Republicans and to spread the GOP message.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_DeLay_Living_on_Donors.html
Wife of Joel Osteen asked to leave plane
By PAM EASTON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Victoria Osteen stands beside her husband, Houston Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen, during services at the church Jan. 9, 2005, in Houston. Osteen failed to comply with a flight attendant's instructions and was asked to leave a plane headed from Houston to Colorado, the FBI said Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2005. The plane's door had been closed Monday, Dec. 19, 2005 when she, got into a verbal altercation with a flight attendant, FBI spokeswoman Luz Garcia said. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)
HOUSTON -- The wife of the pastor of the nation's largest church was asked to leave a plane after she failed to comply with a flight attendant's instructions, the FBI said Tuesday.
Houston Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen, his wife, Victoria, and their two children boarded a Continental Airlines flight from Houston to Vail, Colo., Monday. The plane's door had been closed when Victoria Osteen and a flight attendant had a disagreement.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Pastors_Wife_Disturbance.html
Elton John to tie the knot with partner
By DANICA KIRKA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Irish guardsmen march past Windsor's Guildhall, England, Tuesday Dec. 20, 2005, where rock star Elton John, and filmmaker David Furnish will be joined in Civil Union Wednesday. (AP Photo/ Max Nash)
LONDON -- Rock star Elton John is tying the knot with longtime partner David Furnish Wednesday, in a civil union ceremony seen as a watershed in the struggle for gay rights - and as the party of the season by celebrity-spotters.
Thousands of fans are expected to mob the cobbled streets around Windsor's town hall, the Guildhall, where Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles wed in April.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/pop/1403AP_People_Elton_John.html
Bar Association objects to police posing as lawyers
By GENE JOHNSON
AP LEGAL AFFAIRS WRITER
SEATTLE -- The Washington State Bar Association is asking the state Supreme Court to ban police from posing as lawyers - as officers did to obtain DNA evidence in one recent case - saying the practice is unnecessary and damages the credibility of attorney-client relationships.
The issue arose following the conviction of John Athan, a Palisades Park, N.J., man found to have murdered a 13-year-old girl in Seattle in 1982, when he was 14. Though Athan was a suspect in the case, police didn't have the evidence to arrest him and the case went unsolved for two decades.
In 2003, police sent him a letter on the stationery of a fictitious law firm, asking if they could represent him in a class-action lawsuit. Athan licked the envelope and returned it, providing the DNA sample investigators needed to link him to semen found on the girl's body.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_DNA_Trick.html
Engineers approve latest Boeing contract offer
By ROXANA HEGEMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WICHITA, Kan. -- Engineers at the Boeing Co.'s defense operations in Wichita on Tuesday overwhelmingly accepted a new contract offer that looks a lot like the one they turned down earlier this month.
In their second election, 73 percent of the engineers who voted approved of the three-year contract. The vote was 184-69 to accept the company's latest proposal.
The contract covers 788 engineers represented by the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace at Boeing's defense operations in Wichita.
"The engineers were ready to move on, rather than fuss over the contract," said SPEEA executive director Charles Bofferding.
Boeing spokesman Forrest Gossett said the company was obviously pleased that engineers accepted the region-leading contract.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_KS_Boeing_Wichita.html
Queen Anne residents angrily oppose QFC
Quaintness would be sacrificed, they say
By SAM SKOLNIK
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
A packed room of Queen Anne residents said Monday evening that they resented the plans for a new Quality Food Centers supermarket, complaining that their quaint neighborhood could lose its character by essentially becoming one long strip of national chain-store outlets.
The meeting centered on the proposal for the demolition of the Metropolitan Market and the development of "Queen Anne Place," which would comprise a 38,000-square-foot QFC supermarket branch and another 15,000 square feet of retail space at the top of Queen Anne Hill.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/252756_market20.html
Cantwell vows Senate fight to stop oil drilling
Democrat may lead filibuster to preserve Arctic refuge
By CHARLES POPE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Maria Cantwell vowed Monday to keep the Senate in session until the brink of Christmas to defeat legislation that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.
"If this language is allowed to stand, one of our nation's most pristine wildlife areas will be lost," Cantwell, a Democrat, said as she outlined plans by her party and its allies to defeat language offered by Alaska Republican Ted Stevens to open ANWR.
"This is nothing more than a sweetheart deal for Alaska and the oil companies," Cantwell said. "That's why I am prepared to use every procedural option available to me as a senator to prevent this language from moving forward."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/252683_anwr20.html
Back-pain study touts yoga's benefits
Remedy seemed to work best for sufferers
By JULIE DAVIDOW
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Susana Schuarzberg thinks lifting her 2-year-old grandson in and out of his car seat did it.
The stinging pain in her lower back shot down her leg and wouldn't go away after a year, even with prescription pain medication.
So, when Schuarzberg found out about a study measuring yoga's potential for soothing lower back pain, she didn't hesitate to sign up.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/252745_yoga20.html
Frozen body may be missing Indiana girl
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALBANY, Ind. -- Searchers following a tip from a man jailed for allegedly killing his wife and three young daughters have found a frozen body believed to be that of a 10-year-old girl last seen heading to a school bus stop earlier this month.
Police found the body Monday in a wooded area 50 miles from the Fort Wayne neighborhood where Alejandra Gutierrez disappeared Dec. 8, Delaware County Sheriff George Sheridan said. The body appeared to be that of a child who had been strangled, authorities said, and investigators were working to determine if it was Gutierrez.
Delaware County Deputy Prosecutor Mark McKinney said the area was searched based on details given by Simon Rios, who is now considered a suspect in Gutierrez's abduction and slaying. A 17-year-old juvenile in custody in Allen County also is considered a suspect, authorities said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Missing_Girl.html
Analysis: AOL deal leaves Microsoft to 'search' alone
By SAUL HANSELL
THE NEW YORK TIMES
This time, it was Microsoft that was snubbed at the last minute.
In 1996, America Online agreed to offer Netscape's Internet browser to its 5 million customers. A day later, the non-binding agreement was pushed aside when AOL announced that it had instead chosen Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser in a $100 million deal.
As recently as two weeks ago, Microsoft executives said they believed that their company was going to win the endorsement of Time Warner, AOL's parent, to form an advertising venture with AOL and become its provider of Web search technology.
But today, Time Warner is expected to announce that it will instead renew its three-year-old partnership with Google as the provider of search technology. The deal, in which Google will invest $1 billion for a 5 percent stake in AOL, also will significantly expand AOL's advertising opportunities on Google sites, among other things.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/252690_msftaol20.html
County Health: Failing to thrive
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
The results from our collective health check-up aren't good. In terms of our broad social well-being, King County is failing to thrive.
The latest Communities Count assessment of health and social indicators found bright spots, such as reduced infant mortality, births to teen mothers and alcohol abuse. But that's only part of the picture. "In very basic ways, King County has not progressed," the report found. Many things are worsening.
As the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported recently, rising housing prices have made home ownership an increasingly improbable dream for many working people. The percentage of children living in poverty has risen sharply, to more than 13 percent. The rate of county residents without health insurance hit the highest point in the nearly 15 years the data have been tracked.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/252661_counted20.asp
Domestic Spying: Out of bounds
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
No administration is above the law. Members of both political parties must act on that sound principle to investigate thoroughly the revelations of domestic spying on Americans.
On Monday President Bush appeared to shed some light on the practice, emphasizing that the monitoring of telecommunications without warrants involves only messages going from or coming into the country. He said the administration makes use of a special court to win approval to monitor calls or e-mails within the country.
On a certain level, that will ease public concerns about most communications. But the president has a long way to go in addressing the larger questions about respecting the law and civil liberties.
While Bush has been more forthcoming in recent days, it was typical of the administration that he said the monitoring without warrants will continue on international communications. He sought to frame the decision in terms of the war on terror. That's somewhat misleading, because even before Sept. 11, 2001, this administration was intent on the broadest assumption of powers in the executive branch. At first glace, there is no practical reason for an administration to decide against operating within the established parameters of a law that gives latitude for filing for court approval after monitoring has begun.
Prominent senators from both parties promise to examine the spying program. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said, "We are at war and I applaud the president for being aggressive. But we cannot set aside the rule of law in time of war."
The rule of law is fundamental to summoning the country to the cause of democracy, in times of war or peace.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/252671_nsaed.asp
About 104,000 Aspen 3-in-1 cribs recalled
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- About 104,000 Aspen 3-in-1 cribs have been recalled due to the suffocation hazard the wooden cribs' mattresses pose to young children.
The cribs, sold under the Graco trademark and manufactured by Simplicity Inc., have screws on the wooden mattress support that can come loose, allowing a portion of the mattress to fall and pose a suffocation hazard. The company has received 14 reports of screws becoming loose, including eight incidents of trapped children. Five injuries to children, including scratches and bruises to the head and face, have been reported. One child was reported to have turned blue.
The recalled cribs have a model number 8740KCWSC, which is printed on an envelope attached to the mattress support. Only specific cribs manufactured between July 2003 through April 2005 are recalled.
Department stores and children's product stores sold the product nationwide from August 2003 through May 2005.
For additional information, consumers should contact the company at (800) 784-1982 or visit http://www.simplicityforchildren.com. Pictures of the crib and additional recall information can be found at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Web site at http://www.cpsc.gov.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Recalls_Cribs.html
Rock slide destroys bank in Pelham, N.Y.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PELHAM, N.Y. -- A rock slide into the back of a building Tuesday demolished at least three businesses, including a bank branch that had opened the day before.
There were no injuries. The accident on this Westchester County village's main shopping street happened just after midnight when stores were empty, police Detective Rick Deere said.
A collapsing section of a 25-foot-high cliff pushed the building toward the street and propelled bricks onto the sidewalk, Deere said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Rock_Slide.html
Building Pushed Forward by Landslide; Building Demolished Tuesday night
The building housing three downtown Pelham stores--Pelham Cafe, the brand new branch of Washington Mutual Bank and Village Optician--was pushed forward and pieces of the building façade crumbled and fell to the sidewalk early Tuesday. As dirt and boulders from the cliff in the back gave way, a landslide occurred shortly after midnight.
The stores were closed at the time and no one was walking on the sidewalk. There were no injuries.
Village officials, concerned that the building would collapse, ordered the structure to be demolished, and the order was carried out Tuesday night.
The first emergency call to fire and police was at 12:17am on Tuesday morning. Gas lines as well as water and electrical lines were shut off immediately so there would be no risk of fire. Police also ordered residents in homes facing Sixth Avenue on top of the cliff to be evacuated and closure orders were given to the Pelham Medical building next to the damaged storefronts as well as the string of 13 other stores along the cliff. By Tuesday afternoon, only Caruso Paint & Hardware and Depot Market Delicatessen had been allowed to re-open because a retaining wall separated their building from the cliff.
http://www.pelhamweekly.com/
8 killed in collapse of Algiers hotel
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALGIERS, Algeria -- The facade of a dilapidated hotel collapsed early Tuesday in Algeria's capital, killing eight people and injuring 21 others, authorities said.
Rescue workers with sniffer dogs retrieved the bodies from the three-story Hadika Hotel in downtown Algiers near the north African country's National Theater, officials said.
The dead included six men, a woman and a child. Their nationalities were not immediately available.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Algeria_Hotel_Collapse.html
Russian city braces for toxic slick
By YURAS KARMANAU
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KHABAROVSK, Russia -- Residents of this Far East city stocked up on water Tuesday in the hours before the arrival of a toxic slick of chemicals that could force authorities to shut off water and central heating in subzero temperatures.
With the chemicals that spilled last month from a factory explosion upriver in China expected to reach Khabarovsk by Wednesday, the regional governor said hot water supplies might have to be suspended for as long as seven days and cold water for three days.
"We hope we can deal with the situation but we have to prepare ourselves for a cutoff of water supplies," Gov. Viktor Ishaev was quoted as saying by the ITAR-Tass news agency.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Russia_Poisoned_River.html
EPA proposes new health-based soot limits
By JOHN HEILPRIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency proposed stricter daily limits Tuesday for how many microscopic particles of air pollution, or soot, are safe for all Americans to breathe from the nation's smokestacks and tailpipes.
The proposed new health-based air standards represent one of government's most far-reaching decisions. They affect millions of lives, and could force states to make industries spend billions of dollars to clean up coal-burning power plants, diesel-powered equipment, trucks and industrial boilers.
Health and environmental groups had sued the government to force it to tighten its limits. Meeting a court-ordered deadline of midnight Tuesday, EPA ignored the recommendations of an expert clean air scientific advisory committee, which in June called for even tougher limits.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_EPA_Soot.html
Quake rocks seabed between Micrones, Guam
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SYDNEY, Australia -- A powerful earthquake rocked the seabed Tuesday between the Pacific island groups of Micronesia and Guam, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage and the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not immediately issue any warning that the quake could have generated a tsunami.
The 6.2-magnitude quake, four miles below the seabed, was centered 265 miles northeast of Yap in Micronesia and 270 miles west-southwest of Hagatna, Guam, the agency reported.
There have been a string of quakes in recent weeks in the south Pacific region, including in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. None have caused major damage.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1106AP_Micronesia_Quake.html
Rescuers free beached whales in New Zealand
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Rescuers used high tide to free 110 pilot whales Wednesday, nearly a day after the animals became stranded on New Zealand's South Island.
"They're several kilometers from the shore," Department of Conservation spokeswoman Trish Grant told The Associated Press. "It's early times yet as to whether they make it out to sea or whether they turn back and restrand.
Grant said at least 15 whales had died on the beach during the 24-hour ordeal.
Hundreds of rescuers helped to keep the mammals alive by covering them with moisture until the tide came in.
Volunteers, including tourists from as far afield as China and Germany, joined the rescue effort. Some said they had never seen a whale before.
The whales had beached in two groups, one group of 60 whales near the top of the beach and another group of 63 whales stranded further out.
Grant said the surviving whales, including some young calves, "are not in too bad shape really, considering their stressful time."
New Zealand has several mass whale strandings each summer. Whale experts have been unable to explain why the whales apparently swim into dangerously shallow waters.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_New_Zealand_Whale_Stranding.html
Whales restranding after massive rescue effort
21.12.05 6.00pm UPDATE
By Colin Marshall
Rescuers who helped save more than 100 whales stranded along Puponga Beach on the South Island's Farewell Spit this evening faced the heartbreak of seeing 10 of the whales in trouble again just a kilometre down the beach.
About 15 of the estimated 123 pilot whales that stranded from about midday yesterday died before the pod was shepherded out to sea by Department of Conservation (DOC) staff and hundreds of volunteers on the second high tide about 2pm today.
But just three hours later, after many of the volunteers had gone home, about 10 of the whales were back in shallow water about 1km south along the beach.
DOC Golden Bay spokeswoman Trish Grant said efforts were focused on trying to prevent another mass stranding and on getting the 10 whales already in trouble back to sea.
"They're in shallow water at the moment and we're hoping we can turn them around before they're completely stranded.
"They're still floating but the tide's going out."
Other whales were also milling around close by and boats and volunteers were in the water trying to keep them away from shore.
Ms Grant said the rescuers were hugely disappointed.
"We've been quite hopeful that they were all going to go safely out to sea and we didn't have to worry about them again.
"It is a bit gutting really."
Ms Grant said they might yet need to call for more volunteers.
She said historically only about 60 per cent of stranded whales survived before being refloated so for only 15 of the 123 whales to die so far was a remarkable effort.
As with last night, the rescuers would do what they could before dark if the whales could not be shepherded out to sea, Ms Grant said.
But if they did completely strand, once it was dark, rescuers would have to leave the beach as it would be too dangerous.
Another high tide would arrive in the early hours of the morning and the whales may be able to refloat on their own.
- NZPA
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10360972
Battle to save remaining whales after refloating fails
21.12.05 7.15am
Conservation workers and volunteers are today battling to save the remaining 116 after a large pod beached themselves near Farewell Spit yesterday.
Despite rescue efforts, seven of the estimated 123 pilot whales died overnight.
Some of the surviving whales had been expected to refloat themselves early today, but the Department of Conservation (DOC) said it appeared none of them had made it out to sea.
About 100 local people spent the night trying to keep the whales as comfortable as possible on the beach at Puponga, on the west side of Golden Bay.
Whales are being covered with wet sheets and blankets and water poured over them to try and keep them cool.
The next opportunity to refloat the whales will be at high tide this afternoon at 2pm.
Yesterday Golden Bay area manager John Mason said workers had been tracking the pod of whales all morning after seeing them looking confused and milling around near the shore.
"It wasn't a great surprise to us when they began to strand when the tide turned and began to go out."
The first whale had stranded about 2pm and the rest of the pod of 4-5m whales had progressively stranded.
"We've also got some pumps down there so we're going set up some sprinkler systems," Mr Mason said.
There had been other mass strandings in the area, the last in 1998 when about the same number of whales had beached.
With the start of the holiday season, the population in the usually quiet area had swelled, meaning more volunteers were available.
- NZPA
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10360923
Michael Moore Today
"Thank you, Michael. No other person in this country has been loyal to American Values from economic to education to political as Michael Moore. I don't know where the US Constitution would be without you. There comes a time when 'mind speak' rules the actions of a society. I think we witnessed this after 911. But, you were willing to risk it all including producing a film Disney attempted to oppress, to be sure the voice of truth was not forgotten. Thank you. I consider you one of the greatest Americans of our times."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Spy Court Judge Quits In Protest
Jurist Concerned Bush Order Tainted Work of Secret Panel
By Carol D. Leonnig and Dafna Linzer / Washington Post
A federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of President Bush's secret authorization of a domestic spying program, according to two sources.
U.S. District Judge James Robertson, one of 11 members of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, sent a letter to Chief Justice John D. Roberts Jr. late Monday notifying him of his resignation without providing an explanation.
Two associates familiar with his decision said yesterday that Robertson privately expressed deep concern that the warrantless surveillance program authorized by the president in 2001 was legally questionable and may have tainted the FISA court's work.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5237
Spying Program Snared U.S. Calls
By James Risen and Eric Lichtblau / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 - A surveillance program approved by President Bush to conduct eavesdropping without warrants has captured what are purely domestic communications in some cases, despite a requirement by the White House that one end of the intercepted conversations take place on foreign soil, officials say.
The officials say the National Security Agency's interception of a small number of communications between people within the United States was apparently accidental, and was caused by technical glitches at the National Security Agency in determining whether a communication was in fact "international."
Telecommunications experts say the issue points up troubling logistical questions about the program. At a time when communications networks are increasingly globalized, it is sometimes difficult even for the N.S.A. to determine whether someone is inside or outside the United States when making a cellphone call or sending an e-mail message. As a result, people that the security agency may think are outside the United States are actually on American soil.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5240
National Security Official Goes on Offensive Over Iran, Iraq
Hadley Hopes Iraq Vote Will Help Spread 'Ideology of Freedom'
By George Sanchez / ABC News
Dec. 20, 2005 — President Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley today labeled Iran "probably the No. 1 supporter of terror in the world today" and claimed a growing consensus between the Bush administration and its critics on the way forward in Iraq.
Iran has been blamed for sending equipment to terrorists operating in Iraq and for supporting terror groups like Hezbollah. Iran has reportedly also been seeking to build nuclear weapons.
Speaking at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, Hadley said Iraq's recent parliamentary election is one way to offset Iran's influence in the region, claiming the high turnout on Sunday could help trigger democracy throughout the region.
"That is why it is so important that the terrorists be defeated in Iraq, and that Iraq be a showcase, in some sense, of a competition between the ideology of the terrorists and the ideology of freedom and democracy," Hadley said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5241
Bolivia's Morales brands Bush a "terrorist"
DUBAI (Reuters) - Evo Morales, the winner of Bolivia's presidential election, branded U.S. President George W. Bush a "terrorist", in an interview with Arabic satellite television on Tuesday.
"The only terrorist in this world that I know of is Bush. His military intervention, such as the one in Iraq, that is state terrorism," he told Al Jazeera television.
The leftist won slightly more than half the votes cast in Bolivia's election on Sunday and is set to become the country's first indigenous president.
"There is a difference between people fighting for a cause and what terrorists do," he said in comments, which were translated into Arabic.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5238
Bush’s Snoopgate
The president was so desperate to kill The New York Times’ eavesdropping story, he summoned the paper’s editor and publisher to the Oval Office. But it wasn’t just out of concern about national security.
By Jonathan Alter / Newsweek
Dec. 19, 2005 - Finally we have a Washington scandal that goes beyond sex, corruption and political intrigue to big issues like security versus liberty and the reasonable bounds of presidential power. President Bush came out swinging on Snoopgate—he made it seem as if those who didn’t agree with him wanted to leave us vulnerable to Al Qaeda—but it will not work. We’re seeing clearly now that Bush thought 9/11 gave him license to act like a dictator, or in his own mind, no doubt, like Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5226
LIAR
Bush speech, April 20, 2004:
Secondly, there are such things as roving wiretaps. Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.
http://atrios.blogspot.com/2005_12_18_atrios_archive.html
WATCH HOW WELL BUSH LIES. THE MAN IS A PROFESSIONAL.
Video of President "W" stating "...When you think "Patriot Act" Constitutional guarantees are in place because we value the Constitution…"
http://www.michaelmoore.com/_images/splash/georgelies4202004.mov
Conservative Scholars Argue Bush’s Wiretapping Is An Impeachable Offense
Conservative scholars Bruce Fein and Norm Ornstein argued yesterday on The Diane Rehm show that, should Bush remain defiant in defending his constitutionally-abusive wire-tapping of Americans (as he has indicated he will), Congress should consider impeaching him.
QUESTION: Is spying on the American people as impeachable an offense as lying about having sex with an intern?
BRUCE FEIN, constitutional scholar and former deputy attorney general in the Reagan Administration: I think the answer requires at least in part considering what the occupant of the presidency says in the aftermath of wrongdoing or rectification. On its face, if President Bush is totally unapologetic and says I continue to maintain that as a war-time President I can do anything I want – I don’t need to consult any other branches – that is an impeachable offense. It’s more dangerous than Clinton’s lying under oath because it jeopardizes our democratic dispensation and civil liberties for the ages. It would set a precedent that … would lie around like a loaded gun, able to be used indefinitely for any future occupant.
NORM ORNSTEIN, AEI scholar: I think if we’re going to be intellectually honest here, this really is the kind of thing that Alexander Hamilton was referring to when impeachment was discussed.
(Listen to The Diane Rehm show here. The segment above begins at 33:40)
UPDATE:
More from Knight-Ridder:
[Bush’s] explanation fueled more anger over the domestic spying, and some legal experts asserted that Bush broke the law on a scale that could warrant his impeachment.
“The president’s dead wrong. It’s not a close question. Federal law is clear,” said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University and a specialist in surveillance law. “When the president admits that he violated federal law, that raises serious constitutional questions of high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Hotline Blog is tracking the “I” word.
Filed under: Administration
Posted by Faiz December 20, 2005 3:01 pm
Permalink Comment (181)
Entries to Blog:
King GBush = KGB. Probably just another scary coincidence. Comment by Turk Meister — December 20, 2005 @ 4:28 pm
http://www.forbes.com/work/ feeds…afx2400383.html
This Forbes article quoting Cheney is interesting:
‘It’s the kind of capability if we’d had before 9/11 might have led us to be able to prevent 9/11,’ Cheney said in an interview with ABC’s ‘Nightline’ program.”
Mr. Cheney and Mr. Forbes have something in common…
Now ask yourself what interest Mr. Forbes might have in providing cover for the Administration…give up?Let’s take a look at the list of signatories to the PNAC, shall we?
Steve Forbes actively participated in the following events:
September 2000: PNAC Report Recommends Policies That Need New Pearl Harbor for Quick Implementation:
PNAC drafts a strategy document, “Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources for a New Century,” for George W. Bush’s team before the 2000 Presidential election. The document was commissioned by future Vice President Cheney, future Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, future Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Florida Governor Jeb Bush (Bush’s brother), and future Vice President Cheney’s Chief of Staff Lewis Libby. [Sources: Rebuilding America’s Defenses]
The document outlines a “blueprint for maintaining global US preeminence, precluding the rise of a great power rival, and shaping the international security order in line with American principles and interests.”
PNAC states further: “The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.”
PNAC calls for the control of space through a new “US Space Forces,” the political control of the Internet, and the subversion of any growth in political power of even close allies, and advocates “regime change” in China, North Korea, Libya, Syria, Iran, and other countries.
It also mentions that “advanced forms of biological warfare that can ‘target’ specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool.”
However, PNAC complains that thes changes are likely to take a long time, “absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event—like a new Pearl Harbor.” [Los Angeles Times, 1/12/03]
Notably, while Cheney commissioned this plan (along with other future key leaders of the Bush administration), he defends Bush’s position of maintaining Clinton’s policy not to attack Iraq during an NBC interview in the midst of the 2000 presidential campaign, asserting that the US should not act as though “we were an imperialist power, willy-nilly moving into capitals in that part of the world, taking down governments.” [Washington Post, 1/12/02]
A British member of Parliament will later say of the report: “This is a blueprint for US world domination—a new world order of their making. These are the thought processes of fantasist Americans who want to control the world.” [Sunday Herald, 9/7/02]
Both PNAC and its strategy plan for Bush are almost virtually ignored by the media until a few weeks before the start of the Iraq war (see February-March 20, 2003).
People and organizations involved: Aaron Friedberg, Steve Forbes, Elliott Abrams, Francis Fukuyama, Norman Podhoretz, Henry S. Rowen, Vin Weber, Eliot A. Cohen, Hasam Amin, William J. Bennett, Midge Decter, George Weigel, John Ellis (”Jeb”) Bush, Lewis (”Scooter”) Libby, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, Richard (”Dick”) Cheney, Project for the New American Century, Paula J. Dobriansky, Frank Gaffney, Donald Kagan, Steve Rosen, Saddam Hussein, Peter Rodman, Zalmay M. Khalilzad, Dan Quayle, Syria, China, United States, Lybia, North Korea, Iraq, Fred C. Ikle
http://www.cooperativeresearch.o…1521846767- 2624
Well lookie there!
Mr. Cheney and Mr. Forbes BOTH signed the strategic document which, when implemented, enabled the largest build up in the history of defense contracting, while simultaneously implementing the Energy Strategy plan that was secretly developed in the company of none other than Ken Lay.
And what a coincidence that ABC News is playing its part in helping to push the Cheney agenda. Actually, it didn’t even require wiretapping to catch some of the coconspirators with foreknowledge of 9/11, an ABC News’ crack 20/20 investigative team knew the entire story - and Michael Chertoff deported them - after 7 failed lie detector tests, without filing any charges:
http:// www.antichristconspiracy….pt_11_Spies.htm
Oh look! We’ve come full-circle to the DANCING ISRAELIS!
Any coincidence theorists on the board?
Comment by plunger — December 20, 2005 @ 4:40 pm
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/12/20/conservative-scholars-argue-bush’s-wiretapping-is-an-impeachable-offense/
To qualify the 'Israeli' comment. I believe people in power find it 'convenient' to be a friend of Israel without really believeing in peace for Israel. Cheney is one of those people. It is not Israel's problem the 'type' of meaning others label their alliance with it either. Israel is allowed to have alliances regardless of it's politicians and their domsestic gaming. It is called diplomacy.
Democrats Say They Never OK'd Wiretapping
By Katherine Shrader / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Some Democrats say they never approved a domestic wiretapping program, undermining suggestions by President Bush and his senior advisers that the plan was fully vetted in a series of congressional briefings.
"I feel unable to fully evaluate, much less endorse, these activities," West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the Senate Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, said in a handwritten letter to Vice President Dick Cheney in July 2003. "As you know, I am neither a technician nor an attorney."
Rockefeller is among a small group of congressional leaders who have received briefings on the administration's four-year-old program to eavesdrop — without warrants — on international calls and e-mails of Americans and others inside the United States with suspected ties to al-Qaida.
The government still would seek court approval to snoop on purely domestic communications, such as calls between New York and Los Angeles.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5233
Bin Laden still priority: Rumsfeld
SHANNON, Ireland (CNN) -- Capturing Osama bin Laden was still a priority of the U.S. government, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday.
Rumsfeld, speaking to reporters aboard his flight to Pakistan via Shannon, Ireland, would not speculate on whether the al Qaeda leader was still alive.
"I think it is interesting that we haven't heard from him in a year, close to a year," he said. "I don't know what it means. I suspect that in any event if he's alive and functioning that he's probably spending a major fraction of his time trying to avoid being caught.
"I have trouble believing that he's able to operate sufficiently to be in a position of major command over a worldwide al Qaeda operation, but I could be wrong. We just don't know."
Earlier, Rumsfeld said he had authorized a reduction of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, where bin Laden is believed to be hiding, from 19,000 to 16,000, largely because of an increase in NATO troops there.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5236
Lawmaker Wants Bush and Cheney Censured
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., called Tuesday for Congress to censure President Bush and Vice President Cheney, saying they misled lawmakers on the decision to go to war in Iraq.
Conyers, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, introduced resolutions creating a panel to investigate the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war and separate measures censuring Bush and Cheney.
Conyers, releasing a staff report on the buildup to war, cited "substantial evidence the president, the vice president and other high-ranking members of the Bush administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war in Iraq."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5235
Zogby Poll: 53% of Americans Support Impeachment; ImpeachPAC Announced!
Submitted by bob fertik on Fri, 2005-11-04 12:43. About ImpeachPAC
For Immediate Release: November 4, 2005
New Zogby Poll Shows Majority of Americans Support Impeachment;
ImpeachPAC is Launched to Support Pro-Impeachment Candidates
By a margin of 53% to 42%, Americans want Congress to impeach President Bush if he lied about the war in Iraq, according to a new Zogby poll commissioned by AfterDowningStreet.org, a grassroots coalition that supports a Congressional investigation of President Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003.
The nationwide telephone poll was conducted by Zogby International, the highly-regarded non-partisan polling company. The poll interviewed 1,200 U.S. adults from October 29 through November 2.
The poll found that 53% agreed with the statement:
"If President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should consider holding him accountable through impeachment."
http://www.impeachpac.org/?q=node/6
U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ:
2156
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ:
15881
IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS (MINIMUM):
27569
Study Puts Iraqi Deaths of Civilians at 100,000
By Elisabeth Rosenthal / New York Times
An estimated 100,000 civilians have died in Iraq as a direct or indirect consequence of the March 2003 United States-led invasion, according to a new study by a research team at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Coming just five days before the presidential election the finding is certain to generate intense controversy, since it is far higher than previous mortality estimates for the Iraq conflict.
Editors of The Lancet, the London-based medical publication, where an article describing the study is scheduled to appear, decided not to wait for the normal publication date next week, but to place the research online Friday, apparently so it could circulate before the election.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1565
DRUDGE BLOWS IT
Poor Matt Drudge has been taken for a ride.
Attempting to downplay George W. Bush's illegal activities, Matt D. charges that Presidents Clinton and Carter spied on Americans without a court order, too.
Unfortunately, Drudge is wrong.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=566
continued …
Melting of permafrost threatens homes and roads, scientists warn
· Study foresees huge release of carbon by 2100
· Water runoff could affect global currents
David Adam, environment correspondent
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
Global warming could melt almost all of the top layer of Arctic permafrost by the end of the century. Scientists say the thaw would release vast stocks of carbon into the atmosphere, threaten ocean currents and wreck roads and buildings across Canada, Alaska and Russia.
David Lawrence, a climate scientist with the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, said: "There's a lot of carbon stored in the soil. If the permafrost does thaw, as our model predicts, it could have a major influence on climate." Thawing permafrost is one of several climate "tipping points" feared by environmental experts, because carbon released by melted soil would accelerate global warming. Permafrost makes up about a quarter of land surface in the northern hemisphere and the upper layer is believed to hold at least 30% of the carbon stored in soil worldwide.
Dr Lawrence said: "In terms of its impact on the global climate, I don't see how it can be good news, but just how bad it is is unclear. It's very difficult to see how we can halt it. We may be able to slow it down."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1671774,00.html
Hospitals fail to control killer bug
Outbreaks led to 934 deaths last year
James Meikle, health correspondent
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
Hospitals are failing to follow rules to control a killer bug which has been linked to three times as many deaths as MRSA. Health watchdogs have found that NHS managers in England are failing to isolate patients struck by the virulent bug, Clostridium difficile, a bacterium responsible for 934 deaths among 44,500 patients infected by it last year.
But some hospital trusts say they do not have suitable bedspace to cope with a problem which most believe is getting worse. Dozens of hospitals - about a quarter in England - had to close wards in the last 12 months because of outbreaks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1671824,00.html
Flu vaccine not as effective as studies suggest, say researchers
Sarah Boseley, health editor
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
The flu jab is not as effective in protecting elderly people as studies have suggested because most of those who are vaccinated are healthier than those who are not, according to new research.
A study examining the health records of 73,527 people aged over 65 during an eight-year period in the US found that those who failed to get a flu jab were more likely to die or end up in hospital not only during the flu season and after it, but also before it began.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1671777,00.html
Special Report
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/0,11381,618095,00.html
Reforms may let young killers escape life in jail
· 'Screwed up' youngsters may get new defence
· 'Two tiers' of murder put forward for big law change
Clare Dyer, legal editor
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
Children who kill could escape a life sentence by pleading "developmental immaturity" under proposals published yesterday for the biggest shake-up of murder law in over 50 years.
Under the recommendations, part of a Home Office review of murder, children who kill "in circumstances suggesting incomplete moral development of mental functioning" could claim their responsibility was diminished and their crime should not be punished by a life sentence.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,2763,1671835,00.html
US judge bans intelligent design from science lessons
· Victory for parents on teaching of evolution
· Theory ruled to be religion by the back door
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
A courtroom battle seen as a test case for the teaching of science in America ended in a decisive victory for evolution yesterday when a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled that it was unconstitutional to teach "intelligent design" in biology class.
In a 139-page decision that was scathing about the area school district and dismissive of the science of "intelligent design", US district judge John Jones III ruled that the school district of Dover, Pennsylvania, had violated the constitution by ordering teachers to read a statement which challenged Darwin's theory of evolution.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1671680,00.html
Combining food additives may be harmful, say researchers
· Aspartame and artificial colourings investigated
· Mice nerve cells stopped growing in experiments
Felicity Lawrence, consumer affairs correspondent
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
New research on common food additives, including the controversial sweetener aspartame and food colourings, suggests they may interact to interfere with the development of the nervous system.
Researchers at the University of Liverpool examined the toxic effects on nerve cells in the laboratory of using a combination of four common food additives - aspartame, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and the artificial colourings brilliant blue and quinoline yellow. The findings of their two-year study were published last week in the journal Toxicological Sciences.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,2763,1671818,00.html
Pupils to get nicotine patches
Martin Wainwright
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
School pupils as young as 12 are to be given nicotine patches to help them stop smoking. Nurses and trained staff at six secondary schools in County Durham, close to the prime minister's Sedgefield constituency, will prescribe the treatment and monitor usage and results.
The programme follows a successful pilot scheme at Greencroft school in Annfield Plain last year, where half of a group of 30 children who were given the patches stopped smoking. Regular cigarette use in the region is slightly higher than the country-wide average, which experts say is 1% of 11-year-olds. This rises to 16% of boys and 26% of girls by the age of 16.
http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,5500,1671805,00.html
BBC1 drops Saturday kids' TV
Jason Deans
Wednesday December 21, 2005
Dick and Dom: Saturday morning kids' shows could be moving to BBC2 permanently
The BBC is planning to shift Saturday morning children's TV away from BBC1, ending a 30-year broadcasting tradition stretching back to Multicoloured Swap Shop in the 70s.
From Saturday January 7, BBC1's morning line-up, including Dick & Dom in da Bungalow and Top of the Pops Reloaded, will switch to BBC2 between 6am and noon.
The Saturday morning BBC2 schedule, including Breakfast, Weekend 24 and Saturday Kitchen, will move the other way.
http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1671546,00.html
The new world disorder
Martin Woollacott
Friday December 21, 1990
The Guardian
It is ironic that on the same day that the security council has produced a resolution that could help to avoid war in the Gulf, we have the clearest evidence yet that Soviet foreign policy, so critical to a united approach, is under severe attack at home.
The most emotional section of Eduard Shevardnadze's resignation speech was his rejection of charges that he was ready to send Soviet troops to the Gulf.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,12269,1671574,00.html
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Senator Stevens plays blackmail with piers.
For Stevens, drilling in Alaska is personal payback
By LAURIE KELLMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The Incredible Hulk appeared Tuesday on the Senate floor, adorning the necktie of Sen. Ted Stevens - a familiar sign that the veteran from Alaska is pumped for the fight to open part of an arctic wildlife refuge to oil drilling.
But to hear his colleagues tell it, Stevens is more like the Grinch who would steal Christmas - and New Year's, if need be - to collect on his end of a vote-swapping deal he struck with two Democrats 25 years ago.
"A promise made is a debt unpaid," Stevens, 82, is fond of repeating. "This is a debt unpaid to this Senate, to the country, to Alaska."
Back in 1980, the deal went like this: Vote yes on setting aside 19 million acres of wilderness, said Sens. Henry "Scoop" Jackson of Washington and Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts, and Congress will support permission to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Stevens agreed. Tsongas and Jackson, meanwhile, died before Congress could grant permission to drill.
Their debt survives, Stevens insists. And he's playing procedural hardball to make the Senate pay up.
"We're going to have to face up to ANWR either now or Christmas Day or New Year's Eve or sometime," Stevens thundered from the Senate floor Tuesday, bucking criticism from drilling opponents furious that he succeeded in attaching the drilling permission to a must-pass bill to fund the military.
Off the floor, Stevens acknowledged he has little to lose by muscling opponents into this uncomfortable choice: Vote for a bill that allows arctic drilling or be seen as blocking money for troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, new aid for hurricane victims and subsidies to help the poor meet what are expected to be record winter heating bills.
"This is the toughest battle I've ever had," Stevens said Tuesday, a senatorial red handkerchief perched in a jacket pocket just inches from his surly alter ego.
The big green guy on the necktie is famous in the Senate for injecting a bit of playfulness into spending fights during Stevens' years chairing the Senate Appropriations Committee. "I've won every other battle with it on, so I'm wearing it for this one," Stevens said.
All-night sessions and a list of stalled bills have left little humor on Capitol Hill as the clock ticks toward the end of the year.
"This is, after all, Christmas!" Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., complained on the Senate floor.
The showdown vote could come as early as Wednesday.
The 1980 law doubled to 19 million acres the size of the Alaska wildlife refuge. Stevens said he supported that law only after Jackson and Tsongas promised him that Congress would later consider allowing drilling on a 1.5 million-acre tract bordering the Beaufort Sea.
Democrats disagreed on whether current senators are obligated to pay what Stevens calls a "debt" owed him by Jackson and Tsongas.
"The Grinch Who Stole the Defense Bill," they called Stevens in a news release put out Tuesday by the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee and Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
"Every Sen. in Washington liked the defense bill a lot," they added, channeling Dr. Seuss. "But Stevens, who lives north, in Alaska, did NOT."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_Stevens_Hurrah.html
Seattle in vanguard of tsunami research
Goal is speedier forecasting of a possible disaster
By TOM PAULSON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
In the wake of last year's Indian Ocean tsunami, Seattle has expanded its scientific talent pool for studying the killer waves and launched what is now perhaps the world's largest research organization devoted to tsunamis.
With the Pacific Northwest equally at risk from a major tsunami, scientists are focused on forecasting what to expect when, not if, it happens here.
NOAA research scientist Diego Arcas talks about NOAA's Tsunami Forecast, Measurement and Modeling Systems. Behind him is a projected map of the Pacific Rim showing DARTs (Deep Ocean Assesment of Tsunamis; Red dots) and SIMs (Standby Inundation Mode; yellow squares) that will make up the building blocks of the Tsunami Warning System. The insert shows the Ocean Shores-Grays Harbor area of the Washington coast.
More than a dozen mathematical modelers and software wizards have been newly recruited to analyze the complex, chaotic information that determines tsunami behavior. They are creating simulations that can be used to rapidly predict if a deep-sea quake will produce a tsunami, how big it will be and how it may affect U.S. coastal communities.
"The idea is to pre-compute a lot of the information so we can do it in minutes instead of hours," said Diego Arcas, a new forecaster for the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Seattle station.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/252829_tsunamilab21.html
Gregoire pitches stronger tsunami warning system
By CURT WOODWARD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
OLYMPIA, Wash. - Washington's coastal counties would get another batch of high-tech tsunami warning stations under a disaster management plan proposed by Gov. Christine Gregoire.
The state has been working to upgrade the warning systems since this summer, when a faulty phone line failed to trigger alerts in several coastal areas.
Gregoire's supplemental state budget request, unveiled Tuesday, asks the Legislature for $500,000 to install All Hazard Alert Broadcasting stations in four counties.
Her proposal would pay for about 10 of the stations, doubling the number planned for Washington's coast under a previous federal project.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WST_Gregoire_Emergencies.html
Gregoire's ambitious plan to clean Sound
$42 million spending boost proposed
By LISA STIFFLER AND ROBERT McCLURE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS
Hoping to rocket the restoration of Puget Sound into national prominence, Gov. Christine Gregoire announced Monday the most ambitious plan to date to clean up toxic dumps around the Sound, prevent oil spills and take other actions to revive the ailing inland sea.
Gregoire's $42 million proposal would provide a boost to the approximately $90 million currently earmarked for Sound-related work each year.
Cody Woodruff of Manson Construction sweeps sediment off a dock on the Foss Waterway in Tacoma. As part of the cleanup, Manson Construction was hired to deposit a gravel mixture to cover up some of the contaminated areas.
Although it represents a big bump in spending, the money is only a modest down payment on a 15-year program to restore the Sound -- to make it once again fishable and swimmable, the governor pledged.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/252749_sound20.html
Jet with problem lands safely in Boston
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON -- A jetliner with a landing gear problem touched down safely at Logan International late Tuesday after circling the airport for about two hours.
Sparks could be seen coming from an area near the right landing gear as the aircraft landed just before 10 p.m., but the plane rolled to a stop without incident.
Midwest Airlines Flight 210 had 86 passengers and four crew members on board. Passengers remained on the jet as it was towed to a gate.
Air traffic controllers reported seeing sparks at the rear of the plane after it took off at about 8:15 p.m., bound for Milwaukee, said Laura Brown, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Logan_Plane.html
Judge rules against Pa. biology curriculum
By MARTHA RAFFAELE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Tammy Kitzmiller, left, and Christy Rhem express their happiness during a new conferece Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2005, in Harrisburg Pa., after hearing the verdicit from U.S. District Judge John E. Jones that prevents the Dover School District from teching "intelligent design" in biology class. (AP Photo/Daniel Shanken)
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- In one of the biggest courtroom clashes between faith and evolution since the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, a federal judge barred a Pennsylvania public school district Tuesday from teaching "intelligent design" in biology class, saying the concept is creationism in disguise.
U.S. District Judge John E. Jones delivered a stinging attack on the Dover Area School Board, saying its first-in-the-nation decision in October 2004 to insert intelligent design into the science curriculum violated the constitutional separation of church and state.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Evolution_Debate.html
Source: Abramoff lawyers in talks with DOJ
By PETE YOST
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Lawyers for Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff are in discussions with the Justice Department about his possible cooperation in a congressional corruption probe, a person involved in the investigation said Tuesday night.
The probe involves a number of members of Congress as well as staff. A former aide to ex-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, has already pleaded guilty.
Abramoff would plead guilty under an arrangement that would settle a criminal case against him in Florida as well as potential corruption charges in Washington, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1155AP_Abramoff_Probe.html
REMEMBER the other day Bush stated, "Tom DeLay is not guilty?" What has Gonzalez got cooking to get DeLay off the hook?
DeLay officially files for re-election
By MICHAEL GRACZYK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HOUSTON -- Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, facing trial on charges of money laundering, officially filed Tuesday to run for a 12th term in his suburban Houston district.
The filing was not unexpected.
Republican DeLay, who has denied any wrongdoing and has accused Democrat Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle of conducting a political witch hunt, must deal with at least two GOP challengers in the March primary. He already has been campaigning against his likely general election opponent, former Rep. Nick Lampson.
DeLay filed by petition with the Republican Party of Texas, delivering almost 1,000 signatures collected by volunteers. Filing by petition, instead of paying a filing fee, requires 500 signatures from registered voters in his district.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1133AP_DeLay_Candidacy.html
Donors underwrite DeLay's deluxe lifestyle
By LARRY MARGASAK AND SHARON THEIMER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERS
Former House Majority Leader, Rep. Tom Delay, R-Texas, left, prepares to tee off as President Bush swings in the background during a morning golf outing with three House Republicans at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland in this July 27, 2002 file photo. As DeLay became a king of political fundraising, he lived like one too. Over the past six years, the Republican and his aides have visited cliff-top Caribbean resorts, golf courses designed by PGA champions and four-star restaurants - all courtesy of donors who bankrolled his political money empire. (AP Photo/Kenneth Lambert, Files)
WASHINGTON -- As Tom DeLay became a king of campaign fundraising, he lived like one too. He visited cliff-top Caribbean resorts, golf courses designed by PGA champions and four-star restaurants - all courtesy of donors who bankrolled his political money empire.
Over the past six years, the former House majority leader and his associates have visited places of luxury most Americans have never seen, often getting there aboard corporate jets arranged by lobbyists and other special interests.
Public documents reviewed by The Associated Press tell the story: at least 48 visits to golf clubs and resorts; 100 flights aboard company planes; 200 stays at hotels, many world-class; and 500 meals at restaurants, some averaging nearly $200 for a dinner for two.
Instead of his personal expense, the meals and trips for DeLay and his associates were paid with donations collected by the campaign committees, political action committees and children's charity the Texas Republican created during his rise to the top of Congress. His lawyer says the expenses are part of DeLay's effort to raise money from Republicans and to spread the GOP message.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_DeLay_Living_on_Donors.html
Wife of Joel Osteen asked to leave plane
By PAM EASTON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Victoria Osteen stands beside her husband, Houston Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen, during services at the church Jan. 9, 2005, in Houston. Osteen failed to comply with a flight attendant's instructions and was asked to leave a plane headed from Houston to Colorado, the FBI said Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2005. The plane's door had been closed Monday, Dec. 19, 2005 when she, got into a verbal altercation with a flight attendant, FBI spokeswoman Luz Garcia said. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)
HOUSTON -- The wife of the pastor of the nation's largest church was asked to leave a plane after she failed to comply with a flight attendant's instructions, the FBI said Tuesday.
Houston Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen, his wife, Victoria, and their two children boarded a Continental Airlines flight from Houston to Vail, Colo., Monday. The plane's door had been closed when Victoria Osteen and a flight attendant had a disagreement.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Pastors_Wife_Disturbance.html
Elton John to tie the knot with partner
By DANICA KIRKA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Irish guardsmen march past Windsor's Guildhall, England, Tuesday Dec. 20, 2005, where rock star Elton John, and filmmaker David Furnish will be joined in Civil Union Wednesday. (AP Photo/ Max Nash)
LONDON -- Rock star Elton John is tying the knot with longtime partner David Furnish Wednesday, in a civil union ceremony seen as a watershed in the struggle for gay rights - and as the party of the season by celebrity-spotters.
Thousands of fans are expected to mob the cobbled streets around Windsor's town hall, the Guildhall, where Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles wed in April.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/pop/1403AP_People_Elton_John.html
Bar Association objects to police posing as lawyers
By GENE JOHNSON
AP LEGAL AFFAIRS WRITER
SEATTLE -- The Washington State Bar Association is asking the state Supreme Court to ban police from posing as lawyers - as officers did to obtain DNA evidence in one recent case - saying the practice is unnecessary and damages the credibility of attorney-client relationships.
The issue arose following the conviction of John Athan, a Palisades Park, N.J., man found to have murdered a 13-year-old girl in Seattle in 1982, when he was 14. Though Athan was a suspect in the case, police didn't have the evidence to arrest him and the case went unsolved for two decades.
In 2003, police sent him a letter on the stationery of a fictitious law firm, asking if they could represent him in a class-action lawsuit. Athan licked the envelope and returned it, providing the DNA sample investigators needed to link him to semen found on the girl's body.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_DNA_Trick.html
Engineers approve latest Boeing contract offer
By ROXANA HEGEMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WICHITA, Kan. -- Engineers at the Boeing Co.'s defense operations in Wichita on Tuesday overwhelmingly accepted a new contract offer that looks a lot like the one they turned down earlier this month.
In their second election, 73 percent of the engineers who voted approved of the three-year contract. The vote was 184-69 to accept the company's latest proposal.
The contract covers 788 engineers represented by the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace at Boeing's defense operations in Wichita.
"The engineers were ready to move on, rather than fuss over the contract," said SPEEA executive director Charles Bofferding.
Boeing spokesman Forrest Gossett said the company was obviously pleased that engineers accepted the region-leading contract.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_KS_Boeing_Wichita.html
Queen Anne residents angrily oppose QFC
Quaintness would be sacrificed, they say
By SAM SKOLNIK
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
A packed room of Queen Anne residents said Monday evening that they resented the plans for a new Quality Food Centers supermarket, complaining that their quaint neighborhood could lose its character by essentially becoming one long strip of national chain-store outlets.
The meeting centered on the proposal for the demolition of the Metropolitan Market and the development of "Queen Anne Place," which would comprise a 38,000-square-foot QFC supermarket branch and another 15,000 square feet of retail space at the top of Queen Anne Hill.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/252756_market20.html
Cantwell vows Senate fight to stop oil drilling
Democrat may lead filibuster to preserve Arctic refuge
By CHARLES POPE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Maria Cantwell vowed Monday to keep the Senate in session until the brink of Christmas to defeat legislation that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.
"If this language is allowed to stand, one of our nation's most pristine wildlife areas will be lost," Cantwell, a Democrat, said as she outlined plans by her party and its allies to defeat language offered by Alaska Republican Ted Stevens to open ANWR.
"This is nothing more than a sweetheart deal for Alaska and the oil companies," Cantwell said. "That's why I am prepared to use every procedural option available to me as a senator to prevent this language from moving forward."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/252683_anwr20.html
Back-pain study touts yoga's benefits
Remedy seemed to work best for sufferers
By JULIE DAVIDOW
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Susana Schuarzberg thinks lifting her 2-year-old grandson in and out of his car seat did it.
The stinging pain in her lower back shot down her leg and wouldn't go away after a year, even with prescription pain medication.
So, when Schuarzberg found out about a study measuring yoga's potential for soothing lower back pain, she didn't hesitate to sign up.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/252745_yoga20.html
Frozen body may be missing Indiana girl
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALBANY, Ind. -- Searchers following a tip from a man jailed for allegedly killing his wife and three young daughters have found a frozen body believed to be that of a 10-year-old girl last seen heading to a school bus stop earlier this month.
Police found the body Monday in a wooded area 50 miles from the Fort Wayne neighborhood where Alejandra Gutierrez disappeared Dec. 8, Delaware County Sheriff George Sheridan said. The body appeared to be that of a child who had been strangled, authorities said, and investigators were working to determine if it was Gutierrez.
Delaware County Deputy Prosecutor Mark McKinney said the area was searched based on details given by Simon Rios, who is now considered a suspect in Gutierrez's abduction and slaying. A 17-year-old juvenile in custody in Allen County also is considered a suspect, authorities said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Missing_Girl.html
Analysis: AOL deal leaves Microsoft to 'search' alone
By SAUL HANSELL
THE NEW YORK TIMES
This time, it was Microsoft that was snubbed at the last minute.
In 1996, America Online agreed to offer Netscape's Internet browser to its 5 million customers. A day later, the non-binding agreement was pushed aside when AOL announced that it had instead chosen Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser in a $100 million deal.
As recently as two weeks ago, Microsoft executives said they believed that their company was going to win the endorsement of Time Warner, AOL's parent, to form an advertising venture with AOL and become its provider of Web search technology.
But today, Time Warner is expected to announce that it will instead renew its three-year-old partnership with Google as the provider of search technology. The deal, in which Google will invest $1 billion for a 5 percent stake in AOL, also will significantly expand AOL's advertising opportunities on Google sites, among other things.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/252690_msftaol20.html
County Health: Failing to thrive
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
The results from our collective health check-up aren't good. In terms of our broad social well-being, King County is failing to thrive.
The latest Communities Count assessment of health and social indicators found bright spots, such as reduced infant mortality, births to teen mothers and alcohol abuse. But that's only part of the picture. "In very basic ways, King County has not progressed," the report found. Many things are worsening.
As the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported recently, rising housing prices have made home ownership an increasingly improbable dream for many working people. The percentage of children living in poverty has risen sharply, to more than 13 percent. The rate of county residents without health insurance hit the highest point in the nearly 15 years the data have been tracked.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/252661_counted20.asp
Domestic Spying: Out of bounds
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
No administration is above the law. Members of both political parties must act on that sound principle to investigate thoroughly the revelations of domestic spying on Americans.
On Monday President Bush appeared to shed some light on the practice, emphasizing that the monitoring of telecommunications without warrants involves only messages going from or coming into the country. He said the administration makes use of a special court to win approval to monitor calls or e-mails within the country.
On a certain level, that will ease public concerns about most communications. But the president has a long way to go in addressing the larger questions about respecting the law and civil liberties.
While Bush has been more forthcoming in recent days, it was typical of the administration that he said the monitoring without warrants will continue on international communications. He sought to frame the decision in terms of the war on terror. That's somewhat misleading, because even before Sept. 11, 2001, this administration was intent on the broadest assumption of powers in the executive branch. At first glace, there is no practical reason for an administration to decide against operating within the established parameters of a law that gives latitude for filing for court approval after monitoring has begun.
Prominent senators from both parties promise to examine the spying program. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said, "We are at war and I applaud the president for being aggressive. But we cannot set aside the rule of law in time of war."
The rule of law is fundamental to summoning the country to the cause of democracy, in times of war or peace.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/252671_nsaed.asp
About 104,000 Aspen 3-in-1 cribs recalled
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- About 104,000 Aspen 3-in-1 cribs have been recalled due to the suffocation hazard the wooden cribs' mattresses pose to young children.
The cribs, sold under the Graco trademark and manufactured by Simplicity Inc., have screws on the wooden mattress support that can come loose, allowing a portion of the mattress to fall and pose a suffocation hazard. The company has received 14 reports of screws becoming loose, including eight incidents of trapped children. Five injuries to children, including scratches and bruises to the head and face, have been reported. One child was reported to have turned blue.
The recalled cribs have a model number 8740KCWSC, which is printed on an envelope attached to the mattress support. Only specific cribs manufactured between July 2003 through April 2005 are recalled.
Department stores and children's product stores sold the product nationwide from August 2003 through May 2005.
For additional information, consumers should contact the company at (800) 784-1982 or visit http://www.simplicityforchildren.com. Pictures of the crib and additional recall information can be found at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Web site at http://www.cpsc.gov.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Recalls_Cribs.html
Rock slide destroys bank in Pelham, N.Y.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PELHAM, N.Y. -- A rock slide into the back of a building Tuesday demolished at least three businesses, including a bank branch that had opened the day before.
There were no injuries. The accident on this Westchester County village's main shopping street happened just after midnight when stores were empty, police Detective Rick Deere said.
A collapsing section of a 25-foot-high cliff pushed the building toward the street and propelled bricks onto the sidewalk, Deere said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Rock_Slide.html
Building Pushed Forward by Landslide; Building Demolished Tuesday night
The building housing three downtown Pelham stores--Pelham Cafe, the brand new branch of Washington Mutual Bank and Village Optician--was pushed forward and pieces of the building façade crumbled and fell to the sidewalk early Tuesday. As dirt and boulders from the cliff in the back gave way, a landslide occurred shortly after midnight.
The stores were closed at the time and no one was walking on the sidewalk. There were no injuries.
Village officials, concerned that the building would collapse, ordered the structure to be demolished, and the order was carried out Tuesday night.
The first emergency call to fire and police was at 12:17am on Tuesday morning. Gas lines as well as water and electrical lines were shut off immediately so there would be no risk of fire. Police also ordered residents in homes facing Sixth Avenue on top of the cliff to be evacuated and closure orders were given to the Pelham Medical building next to the damaged storefronts as well as the string of 13 other stores along the cliff. By Tuesday afternoon, only Caruso Paint & Hardware and Depot Market Delicatessen had been allowed to re-open because a retaining wall separated their building from the cliff.
http://www.pelhamweekly.com/
8 killed in collapse of Algiers hotel
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALGIERS, Algeria -- The facade of a dilapidated hotel collapsed early Tuesday in Algeria's capital, killing eight people and injuring 21 others, authorities said.
Rescue workers with sniffer dogs retrieved the bodies from the three-story Hadika Hotel in downtown Algiers near the north African country's National Theater, officials said.
The dead included six men, a woman and a child. Their nationalities were not immediately available.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Algeria_Hotel_Collapse.html
Russian city braces for toxic slick
By YURAS KARMANAU
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KHABAROVSK, Russia -- Residents of this Far East city stocked up on water Tuesday in the hours before the arrival of a toxic slick of chemicals that could force authorities to shut off water and central heating in subzero temperatures.
With the chemicals that spilled last month from a factory explosion upriver in China expected to reach Khabarovsk by Wednesday, the regional governor said hot water supplies might have to be suspended for as long as seven days and cold water for three days.
"We hope we can deal with the situation but we have to prepare ourselves for a cutoff of water supplies," Gov. Viktor Ishaev was quoted as saying by the ITAR-Tass news agency.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Russia_Poisoned_River.html
EPA proposes new health-based soot limits
By JOHN HEILPRIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency proposed stricter daily limits Tuesday for how many microscopic particles of air pollution, or soot, are safe for all Americans to breathe from the nation's smokestacks and tailpipes.
The proposed new health-based air standards represent one of government's most far-reaching decisions. They affect millions of lives, and could force states to make industries spend billions of dollars to clean up coal-burning power plants, diesel-powered equipment, trucks and industrial boilers.
Health and environmental groups had sued the government to force it to tighten its limits. Meeting a court-ordered deadline of midnight Tuesday, EPA ignored the recommendations of an expert clean air scientific advisory committee, which in June called for even tougher limits.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_EPA_Soot.html
Quake rocks seabed between Micrones, Guam
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SYDNEY, Australia -- A powerful earthquake rocked the seabed Tuesday between the Pacific island groups of Micronesia and Guam, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage and the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not immediately issue any warning that the quake could have generated a tsunami.
The 6.2-magnitude quake, four miles below the seabed, was centered 265 miles northeast of Yap in Micronesia and 270 miles west-southwest of Hagatna, Guam, the agency reported.
There have been a string of quakes in recent weeks in the south Pacific region, including in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. None have caused major damage.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1106AP_Micronesia_Quake.html
Rescuers free beached whales in New Zealand
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Rescuers used high tide to free 110 pilot whales Wednesday, nearly a day after the animals became stranded on New Zealand's South Island.
"They're several kilometers from the shore," Department of Conservation spokeswoman Trish Grant told The Associated Press. "It's early times yet as to whether they make it out to sea or whether they turn back and restrand.
Grant said at least 15 whales had died on the beach during the 24-hour ordeal.
Hundreds of rescuers helped to keep the mammals alive by covering them with moisture until the tide came in.
Volunteers, including tourists from as far afield as China and Germany, joined the rescue effort. Some said they had never seen a whale before.
The whales had beached in two groups, one group of 60 whales near the top of the beach and another group of 63 whales stranded further out.
Grant said the surviving whales, including some young calves, "are not in too bad shape really, considering their stressful time."
New Zealand has several mass whale strandings each summer. Whale experts have been unable to explain why the whales apparently swim into dangerously shallow waters.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_New_Zealand_Whale_Stranding.html
Whales restranding after massive rescue effort
21.12.05 6.00pm UPDATE
By Colin Marshall
Rescuers who helped save more than 100 whales stranded along Puponga Beach on the South Island's Farewell Spit this evening faced the heartbreak of seeing 10 of the whales in trouble again just a kilometre down the beach.
About 15 of the estimated 123 pilot whales that stranded from about midday yesterday died before the pod was shepherded out to sea by Department of Conservation (DOC) staff and hundreds of volunteers on the second high tide about 2pm today.
But just three hours later, after many of the volunteers had gone home, about 10 of the whales were back in shallow water about 1km south along the beach.
DOC Golden Bay spokeswoman Trish Grant said efforts were focused on trying to prevent another mass stranding and on getting the 10 whales already in trouble back to sea.
"They're in shallow water at the moment and we're hoping we can turn them around before they're completely stranded.
"They're still floating but the tide's going out."
Other whales were also milling around close by and boats and volunteers were in the water trying to keep them away from shore.
Ms Grant said the rescuers were hugely disappointed.
"We've been quite hopeful that they were all going to go safely out to sea and we didn't have to worry about them again.
"It is a bit gutting really."
Ms Grant said they might yet need to call for more volunteers.
She said historically only about 60 per cent of stranded whales survived before being refloated so for only 15 of the 123 whales to die so far was a remarkable effort.
As with last night, the rescuers would do what they could before dark if the whales could not be shepherded out to sea, Ms Grant said.
But if they did completely strand, once it was dark, rescuers would have to leave the beach as it would be too dangerous.
Another high tide would arrive in the early hours of the morning and the whales may be able to refloat on their own.
- NZPA
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10360972
Battle to save remaining whales after refloating fails
21.12.05 7.15am
Conservation workers and volunteers are today battling to save the remaining 116 after a large pod beached themselves near Farewell Spit yesterday.
Despite rescue efforts, seven of the estimated 123 pilot whales died overnight.
Some of the surviving whales had been expected to refloat themselves early today, but the Department of Conservation (DOC) said it appeared none of them had made it out to sea.
About 100 local people spent the night trying to keep the whales as comfortable as possible on the beach at Puponga, on the west side of Golden Bay.
Whales are being covered with wet sheets and blankets and water poured over them to try and keep them cool.
The next opportunity to refloat the whales will be at high tide this afternoon at 2pm.
Yesterday Golden Bay area manager John Mason said workers had been tracking the pod of whales all morning after seeing them looking confused and milling around near the shore.
"It wasn't a great surprise to us when they began to strand when the tide turned and began to go out."
The first whale had stranded about 2pm and the rest of the pod of 4-5m whales had progressively stranded.
"We've also got some pumps down there so we're going set up some sprinkler systems," Mr Mason said.
There had been other mass strandings in the area, the last in 1998 when about the same number of whales had beached.
With the start of the holiday season, the population in the usually quiet area had swelled, meaning more volunteers were available.
- NZPA
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10360923
Michael Moore Today
"Thank you, Michael. No other person in this country has been loyal to American Values from economic to education to political as Michael Moore. I don't know where the US Constitution would be without you. There comes a time when 'mind speak' rules the actions of a society. I think we witnessed this after 911. But, you were willing to risk it all including producing a film Disney attempted to oppress, to be sure the voice of truth was not forgotten. Thank you. I consider you one of the greatest Americans of our times."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Spy Court Judge Quits In Protest
Jurist Concerned Bush Order Tainted Work of Secret Panel
By Carol D. Leonnig and Dafna Linzer / Washington Post
A federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of President Bush's secret authorization of a domestic spying program, according to two sources.
U.S. District Judge James Robertson, one of 11 members of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, sent a letter to Chief Justice John D. Roberts Jr. late Monday notifying him of his resignation without providing an explanation.
Two associates familiar with his decision said yesterday that Robertson privately expressed deep concern that the warrantless surveillance program authorized by the president in 2001 was legally questionable and may have tainted the FISA court's work.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5237
Spying Program Snared U.S. Calls
By James Risen and Eric Lichtblau / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 - A surveillance program approved by President Bush to conduct eavesdropping without warrants has captured what are purely domestic communications in some cases, despite a requirement by the White House that one end of the intercepted conversations take place on foreign soil, officials say.
The officials say the National Security Agency's interception of a small number of communications between people within the United States was apparently accidental, and was caused by technical glitches at the National Security Agency in determining whether a communication was in fact "international."
Telecommunications experts say the issue points up troubling logistical questions about the program. At a time when communications networks are increasingly globalized, it is sometimes difficult even for the N.S.A. to determine whether someone is inside or outside the United States when making a cellphone call or sending an e-mail message. As a result, people that the security agency may think are outside the United States are actually on American soil.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5240
National Security Official Goes on Offensive Over Iran, Iraq
Hadley Hopes Iraq Vote Will Help Spread 'Ideology of Freedom'
By George Sanchez / ABC News
Dec. 20, 2005 — President Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley today labeled Iran "probably the No. 1 supporter of terror in the world today" and claimed a growing consensus between the Bush administration and its critics on the way forward in Iraq.
Iran has been blamed for sending equipment to terrorists operating in Iraq and for supporting terror groups like Hezbollah. Iran has reportedly also been seeking to build nuclear weapons.
Speaking at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, Hadley said Iraq's recent parliamentary election is one way to offset Iran's influence in the region, claiming the high turnout on Sunday could help trigger democracy throughout the region.
"That is why it is so important that the terrorists be defeated in Iraq, and that Iraq be a showcase, in some sense, of a competition between the ideology of the terrorists and the ideology of freedom and democracy," Hadley said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5241
Bolivia's Morales brands Bush a "terrorist"
DUBAI (Reuters) - Evo Morales, the winner of Bolivia's presidential election, branded U.S. President George W. Bush a "terrorist", in an interview with Arabic satellite television on Tuesday.
"The only terrorist in this world that I know of is Bush. His military intervention, such as the one in Iraq, that is state terrorism," he told Al Jazeera television.
The leftist won slightly more than half the votes cast in Bolivia's election on Sunday and is set to become the country's first indigenous president.
"There is a difference between people fighting for a cause and what terrorists do," he said in comments, which were translated into Arabic.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5238
Bush’s Snoopgate
The president was so desperate to kill The New York Times’ eavesdropping story, he summoned the paper’s editor and publisher to the Oval Office. But it wasn’t just out of concern about national security.
By Jonathan Alter / Newsweek
Dec. 19, 2005 - Finally we have a Washington scandal that goes beyond sex, corruption and political intrigue to big issues like security versus liberty and the reasonable bounds of presidential power. President Bush came out swinging on Snoopgate—he made it seem as if those who didn’t agree with him wanted to leave us vulnerable to Al Qaeda—but it will not work. We’re seeing clearly now that Bush thought 9/11 gave him license to act like a dictator, or in his own mind, no doubt, like Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5226
LIAR
Bush speech, April 20, 2004:
Secondly, there are such things as roving wiretaps. Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.
http://atrios.blogspot.com/2005_12_18_atrios_archive.html
WATCH HOW WELL BUSH LIES. THE MAN IS A PROFESSIONAL.
Video of President "W" stating "...When you think "Patriot Act" Constitutional guarantees are in place because we value the Constitution…"
http://www.michaelmoore.com/_images/splash/georgelies4202004.mov
Conservative Scholars Argue Bush’s Wiretapping Is An Impeachable Offense
Conservative scholars Bruce Fein and Norm Ornstein argued yesterday on The Diane Rehm show that, should Bush remain defiant in defending his constitutionally-abusive wire-tapping of Americans (as he has indicated he will), Congress should consider impeaching him.
QUESTION: Is spying on the American people as impeachable an offense as lying about having sex with an intern?
BRUCE FEIN, constitutional scholar and former deputy attorney general in the Reagan Administration: I think the answer requires at least in part considering what the occupant of the presidency says in the aftermath of wrongdoing or rectification. On its face, if President Bush is totally unapologetic and says I continue to maintain that as a war-time President I can do anything I want – I don’t need to consult any other branches – that is an impeachable offense. It’s more dangerous than Clinton’s lying under oath because it jeopardizes our democratic dispensation and civil liberties for the ages. It would set a precedent that … would lie around like a loaded gun, able to be used indefinitely for any future occupant.
NORM ORNSTEIN, AEI scholar: I think if we’re going to be intellectually honest here, this really is the kind of thing that Alexander Hamilton was referring to when impeachment was discussed.
(Listen to The Diane Rehm show here. The segment above begins at 33:40)
UPDATE:
More from Knight-Ridder:
[Bush’s] explanation fueled more anger over the domestic spying, and some legal experts asserted that Bush broke the law on a scale that could warrant his impeachment.
“The president’s dead wrong. It’s not a close question. Federal law is clear,” said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University and a specialist in surveillance law. “When the president admits that he violated federal law, that raises serious constitutional questions of high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Hotline Blog is tracking the “I” word.
Filed under: Administration
Posted by Faiz December 20, 2005 3:01 pm
Permalink Comment (181)
Entries to Blog:
King GBush = KGB. Probably just another scary coincidence. Comment by Turk Meister — December 20, 2005 @ 4:28 pm
http://www.forbes.com/work/ feeds…afx2400383.html
This Forbes article quoting Cheney is interesting:
‘It’s the kind of capability if we’d had before 9/11 might have led us to be able to prevent 9/11,’ Cheney said in an interview with ABC’s ‘Nightline’ program.”
Mr. Cheney and Mr. Forbes have something in common…
Now ask yourself what interest Mr. Forbes might have in providing cover for the Administration…give up?Let’s take a look at the list of signatories to the PNAC, shall we?
Steve Forbes actively participated in the following events:
September 2000: PNAC Report Recommends Policies That Need New Pearl Harbor for Quick Implementation:
PNAC drafts a strategy document, “Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources for a New Century,” for George W. Bush’s team before the 2000 Presidential election. The document was commissioned by future Vice President Cheney, future Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, future Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Florida Governor Jeb Bush (Bush’s brother), and future Vice President Cheney’s Chief of Staff Lewis Libby. [Sources: Rebuilding America’s Defenses]
The document outlines a “blueprint for maintaining global US preeminence, precluding the rise of a great power rival, and shaping the international security order in line with American principles and interests.”
PNAC states further: “The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.”
PNAC calls for the control of space through a new “US Space Forces,” the political control of the Internet, and the subversion of any growth in political power of even close allies, and advocates “regime change” in China, North Korea, Libya, Syria, Iran, and other countries.
It also mentions that “advanced forms of biological warfare that can ‘target’ specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool.”
However, PNAC complains that thes changes are likely to take a long time, “absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event—like a new Pearl Harbor.” [Los Angeles Times, 1/12/03]
Notably, while Cheney commissioned this plan (along with other future key leaders of the Bush administration), he defends Bush’s position of maintaining Clinton’s policy not to attack Iraq during an NBC interview in the midst of the 2000 presidential campaign, asserting that the US should not act as though “we were an imperialist power, willy-nilly moving into capitals in that part of the world, taking down governments.” [Washington Post, 1/12/02]
A British member of Parliament will later say of the report: “This is a blueprint for US world domination—a new world order of their making. These are the thought processes of fantasist Americans who want to control the world.” [Sunday Herald, 9/7/02]
Both PNAC and its strategy plan for Bush are almost virtually ignored by the media until a few weeks before the start of the Iraq war (see February-March 20, 2003).
People and organizations involved: Aaron Friedberg, Steve Forbes, Elliott Abrams, Francis Fukuyama, Norman Podhoretz, Henry S. Rowen, Vin Weber, Eliot A. Cohen, Hasam Amin, William J. Bennett, Midge Decter, George Weigel, John Ellis (”Jeb”) Bush, Lewis (”Scooter”) Libby, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, Richard (”Dick”) Cheney, Project for the New American Century, Paula J. Dobriansky, Frank Gaffney, Donald Kagan, Steve Rosen, Saddam Hussein, Peter Rodman, Zalmay M. Khalilzad, Dan Quayle, Syria, China, United States, Lybia, North Korea, Iraq, Fred C. Ikle
http://www.cooperativeresearch.o…1521846767- 2624
Well lookie there!
Mr. Cheney and Mr. Forbes BOTH signed the strategic document which, when implemented, enabled the largest build up in the history of defense contracting, while simultaneously implementing the Energy Strategy plan that was secretly developed in the company of none other than Ken Lay.
And what a coincidence that ABC News is playing its part in helping to push the Cheney agenda. Actually, it didn’t even require wiretapping to catch some of the coconspirators with foreknowledge of 9/11, an ABC News’ crack 20/20 investigative team knew the entire story - and Michael Chertoff deported them - after 7 failed lie detector tests, without filing any charges:
http:// www.antichristconspiracy….pt_11_Spies.htm
Oh look! We’ve come full-circle to the DANCING ISRAELIS!
Any coincidence theorists on the board?
Comment by plunger — December 20, 2005 @ 4:40 pm
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/12/20/conservative-scholars-argue-bush’s-wiretapping-is-an-impeachable-offense/
To qualify the 'Israeli' comment. I believe people in power find it 'convenient' to be a friend of Israel without really believeing in peace for Israel. Cheney is one of those people. It is not Israel's problem the 'type' of meaning others label their alliance with it either. Israel is allowed to have alliances regardless of it's politicians and their domsestic gaming. It is called diplomacy.
Democrats Say They Never OK'd Wiretapping
By Katherine Shrader / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Some Democrats say they never approved a domestic wiretapping program, undermining suggestions by President Bush and his senior advisers that the plan was fully vetted in a series of congressional briefings.
"I feel unable to fully evaluate, much less endorse, these activities," West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the Senate Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, said in a handwritten letter to Vice President Dick Cheney in July 2003. "As you know, I am neither a technician nor an attorney."
Rockefeller is among a small group of congressional leaders who have received briefings on the administration's four-year-old program to eavesdrop — without warrants — on international calls and e-mails of Americans and others inside the United States with suspected ties to al-Qaida.
The government still would seek court approval to snoop on purely domestic communications, such as calls between New York and Los Angeles.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5233
Bin Laden still priority: Rumsfeld
SHANNON, Ireland (CNN) -- Capturing Osama bin Laden was still a priority of the U.S. government, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday.
Rumsfeld, speaking to reporters aboard his flight to Pakistan via Shannon, Ireland, would not speculate on whether the al Qaeda leader was still alive.
"I think it is interesting that we haven't heard from him in a year, close to a year," he said. "I don't know what it means. I suspect that in any event if he's alive and functioning that he's probably spending a major fraction of his time trying to avoid being caught.
"I have trouble believing that he's able to operate sufficiently to be in a position of major command over a worldwide al Qaeda operation, but I could be wrong. We just don't know."
Earlier, Rumsfeld said he had authorized a reduction of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, where bin Laden is believed to be hiding, from 19,000 to 16,000, largely because of an increase in NATO troops there.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5236
Lawmaker Wants Bush and Cheney Censured
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., called Tuesday for Congress to censure President Bush and Vice President Cheney, saying they misled lawmakers on the decision to go to war in Iraq.
Conyers, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, introduced resolutions creating a panel to investigate the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war and separate measures censuring Bush and Cheney.
Conyers, releasing a staff report on the buildup to war, cited "substantial evidence the president, the vice president and other high-ranking members of the Bush administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war in Iraq."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5235
Zogby Poll: 53% of Americans Support Impeachment; ImpeachPAC Announced!
Submitted by bob fertik on Fri, 2005-11-04 12:43. About ImpeachPAC
For Immediate Release: November 4, 2005
New Zogby Poll Shows Majority of Americans Support Impeachment;
ImpeachPAC is Launched to Support Pro-Impeachment Candidates
By a margin of 53% to 42%, Americans want Congress to impeach President Bush if he lied about the war in Iraq, according to a new Zogby poll commissioned by AfterDowningStreet.org, a grassroots coalition that supports a Congressional investigation of President Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003.
The nationwide telephone poll was conducted by Zogby International, the highly-regarded non-partisan polling company. The poll interviewed 1,200 U.S. adults from October 29 through November 2.
The poll found that 53% agreed with the statement:
"If President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should consider holding him accountable through impeachment."
http://www.impeachpac.org/?q=node/6
U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ:
2156
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ:
15881
IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS (MINIMUM):
27569
Study Puts Iraqi Deaths of Civilians at 100,000
By Elisabeth Rosenthal / New York Times
An estimated 100,000 civilians have died in Iraq as a direct or indirect consequence of the March 2003 United States-led invasion, according to a new study by a research team at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Coming just five days before the presidential election the finding is certain to generate intense controversy, since it is far higher than previous mortality estimates for the Iraq conflict.
Editors of The Lancet, the London-based medical publication, where an article describing the study is scheduled to appear, decided not to wait for the normal publication date next week, but to place the research online Friday, apparently so it could circulate before the election.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1565
DRUDGE BLOWS IT
Poor Matt Drudge has been taken for a ride.
Attempting to downplay George W. Bush's illegal activities, Matt D. charges that Presidents Clinton and Carter spied on Americans without a court order, too.
Unfortunately, Drudge is wrong.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=566
continued …
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